Fateful Decisions
by GallaudetLurker
Summary: Robbie kisses Jade at Sikowitz's sleepover after he is banished from Sikowitz's house. What will happen? RADE Robbie/Jade
1. Explaining to do

**A/N: I, GallaudetLurker, have returned!**

**Following the conclusion of my story, 'Do She Like Me?', I have started another story. I have attempted to alter my writing style a bit, to be more detailed in my writing. This story starts in the episode, _'Sleepover at Sikowitz's'_, when Robbie is banished from Sikowitz's house for acting out of character. I was browsing the Victorious wiki when I encountered an animated gif of Jade grabbing Robbie by the arms in the episode when I was struck by this...inspiration and just felt compelled to write it.**

**How interesting, huh? lol**

**To be frankly, I think this might be a two-shot or something. Will see how I progress, tho. I'm more of a 'go with the flow' person, I can't plan anything out and stick with it, lol.**

**Also, I felt I was updating a bit too fast in my previous story, so I'm thinking I might take a little while to update, so I can revise each chapter I write so they would be good. Something like that.**

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter. Hope you like.**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter One: Explaining to do<strong>_

Robbie Shapiro felt disappointed and a bit embarrassed. And dumb and naive too.

Sikowitz, ever the crafty man he was, had tricked him into getting out of character when he began running around his living room, trying to get a pesky fly before apparently tripping over something and tumbling through a window, to the horror of everyone in the house. Ever the person who had a big heart, Robbie had rushed over to Sikowitz, who was still bunched over the windowsill, out of concern and called out if he was okay. As soon he had stated his real name to Sikowitz's weak voice asking who he was, the bearded teacher had triumphantly turned the table over on him, proclaiming that he had acted out of character and as such was out of the game.

In short, Robbie would be the first person to be banished, forever, from Sikowitz's house. Which was _bit_ of a pity, too, considering that he had come to rather fancy it in the short period of time he had spent there, with its creative and colorful accessories and decorations.

As he turned to the others, Robbie felt disappointment, embarrassment, and shame course through him as he looked at how they managed to stay in character, and yet not let their concern and emotions take them over the way they did to him. He felt a bit _envious_ of them because of that.

Perhaps he was too soft a person? Maybe that was why people constantly picked on him, including his supposed best friend, Rex?

Sighing, with a heavy feeling weighing upon his heart, Robbie began to walk toward the front door, ready to leave Sikowitz's house for good, when Jade ran over to him.

"It was wonderful to meet you." Jade's voice was cheerful as she grabbed his arms, sliding her hands slowly and deliberately over his arms before reaching his hands and grasping it for a second before she let go. The whole time, he felt his arms tingle slightly from her touch as he looked at her.

As his dark eyes bored into Jade's blue orbs, Robbie was surprised to see something remotely resembling sympathy, pity, and..._concern_ shining through them. Jade still had a smile on her face, which he noticed was a bit too strained. This was understandable, though, given that Jade's character was far too positive and cheery for her to handle as it was completely contrary to who she was, a dark Goth girl who had an unhealthy interest in sharp objects, blood, and violence that one usually saw in horror movies.

As he continued to look at her-he'd sworn that time seemed to slow down to a standstill-Robbie felt something stirring inside of him.

He knew perfectly what it was: for as long as he could remember, Robbie had been sort of..._attracted_ to Jade. Heck, he could even call that level of attraction a crush. From the moment he had ever laid his eyes on her, he thought she was one of the most beautiful girls he ever saw in his life, akin to a heavenly angel, a goddess. But given his everlasting fear of rejection and humiliation, an experience that was reinforced by his previous experiences in different schools, Robbie kept it to himself, knowing perfectly that the scissors that were displayed on the inside and outside of her locker, located right next to his baby bottle-covered locker, would serve a double purpose if she ever found out.

And that was not all. Jade was, and is, dating Beck Oliver, his best friend and one of the most handsome guy he had ever seen in his life (he's not homosexual or even bisexual, but he knows what he is talking about). Beck was one of the coolest guys he had ever known, and he was certainly popular with Hollywood Arts' female population, to the ongoing jealousy of Jade.

In short, Beck was everything Robbie wanted to be, but was not.

What was Robbie, _exactly_? He was the nerdy, geeky, freaky, lanky guy who sported a curly afro, who wore glasses that was probably a bit too big for his face, and who carried around a puppet named Rex Powers, who was little more than an outlet for his real personality to manifest itself. Robbie knew perfectly that Rex was not real-after all, he was THE ventriloquist whose skilled hands brought Rex to life-but Robbie continued the impression of Rex as his own person, despite the too-clear fact that he was generally talking to himself, insulting himself, putting himself down. Still, the dummy provided Robbie the only way, the only outlet, for him to channel his true feelings and words to anyone without fear of humiliation or retribution.

What was highly ironic, Robbie knew, was that Rex was considerably more popular with females than the shy, nerdy ventriloquist who was controlling him. More than a few times, Robbie felt like a coward, that he could not properly express himself out loud, and he constantly mentally beat himself up in the form of insults and taunts that Rex usually leveled at him on a daily basis. Taking this into account, Robbie knew perfectly well that Jade, being a tough-as-nails personality with a higher social standing than his, would never go for such a pathetic form of a person like him. He was sure that Jade would rather choke on a scissor several times than go out with him.

One of the most intriguing paradoxes of Robbie's personality was that he was not the type of person to give up easily, thus his (undeserved) stigma as one of the most annoying persons at Hollywood Arts (and the other schools he had been to). No matter the fact he had been picked on, spat upon, mocked, scorned upon, even beaten up by pretty much anyone (not limited to females) that he had encountered in his life before he went to Hollywood Arts and found 'decent' friends that was now standing in assorted costumes in the house that he was currently in, Robbie always kept on working toward something that his mind was set on.

The reason he chose to pursue Trina Vega, Tori's older but _hopelessly_ untalented sister, and later on, Caterina "Cat" Valentine, a sweet but ditzy redheaded girl who constantly flirted with every boy that crossed her way, was just that-a way to try to get over his feelings for Jade before it spiraled out of control and landed him into a hospital, courtesy of Jade, or worse. And not only because Trina and then Cat kissed him, and his romantically-deprived heart and brain desperately latched on this as a sign that a single (or in this case, a couple) member of the female species was even _remotely_ attracted to him. Despite the now-familiar acts of humiliation, embarrassment, and shame that would make any normal boy leave Hollywood Arts and possibly even L.A. itself-but ever since when was Robbie a 'normal' person?-that was heaped upon him (quite literally in the form of various soups, food, and liquid that was either poured into his head or spat into his face), Robbie continued to pursue Trina and Cat, sometimes even at the same time.

Patience and persistence pays off, Robbie had learned at some point in his life, and it certainly applied to him. Through his annoyingly patient and persistent attempts to get through to Trina and then Cat, Robbie had succeeded in lessening his feelings for Jade.

Until today.

The very moment Jade walked through the front door, months of Robbie's efforts to reduce his feelings toward her from a crush to simply a friend dissipated into a puff of smoke-eerily similar to the way his hopes, ambitions, and self-confidence at times had vanished, gone forever. His eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets, of which would surely crash through his glasses had they done so, his heart skipped a beat, his throat constricted like the way a boa constrictor squeezing the life of its victim, and his latent feelings flooding over him with the force of a raging, ferocious tsunami that had the power to sweep away everything that stood in its way.

For lack of a better description, Jade looked simply..._hot_. For her role as the sickeningly sweet Betty-Sue Goldenheart, a peppy Southern farm girl whose personality would have landed her the death penalty in Jade's dark world-courtesy of Tori as part of her clever ploy to torment her rival-Jade was dressed in a denim shorts that not only hugged her shapely thighs, but cupped her ass in a way that made his mouth water. A red Southern-style midriff covered most of her shapely body, being tied in the front that not only exposed her well-toned stomach, but helped to actually push up her perky breasts. The way her breasts swayed so gently but in a _maddeningly_ seductive way across her fabric as she walked into the house with a too-bright smile on her face, accompanied by Beck, dressed up in a Cockney detective uniform, made Robbie wonder if she was wearing a bra. Topping off her costume, quite literally, was an old-fashioned cowgirl hat that fitted her head perfectly and enhanced her apparel in a sensual way.

In other words, she was _absolutely gorgeous_.

With this...vixen strutting around in close proximity, it was a wonder, indeed a miracle, that Robbie was able to continue acting in his character, despite his rapidly-beating heart, the flood of blood into his face, and the lengthening erection in his pants that he had managed to hide by collapsing into the floor every couple of minutes because of his 'jelly legs'. Indeed, Jade's appearance had turned his leg into jelly in a way that he wondered if he was acting or doing the real thing.

As he peered into Jade's eyes, something seemed to snap in Robbie as his heart seemed to wrench and lurch while it was saddled with feeling of strong desire.

Without really thinking, Robbie leaned toward Jade, slamming his lips into hers and letting his desire, lust...love flow out of him into her lips. As he did so, he felt sparks enter his body, emanating from his lingering contact on Jade's frozen lips, and gently coursing throughout his body, covering him with a warm, comforting sensation that he couldn't describe.

Immediately, scores of gasps greeted his ears, affirming to Robbie that he had either made the biggest mistake of his life or the greatest decision he had ever made.

Pulling away, Robbie opened his eyes and let them refocus themselves as he peered into Jade's shocked face. Her eyes were wide, so many questions swimming around in her orbs, her pouty, slightly-swollen lips were gaping into an 'O'.

Around him, everyone was shocked beyond belief. Beck, for one, was stunned into silence, his hands that were groping Sikowitz's bearded face frozen into piece as he watched his girlfriend of one year and eleven month being...kissed by Robbie. Cat's normally ditzy face was transfigured into a face of shock, disbelief...and hurt as she stared at her friend, and secret crush, press lips with Jade. Andre's eyes were wide as he remained frozen in his chair, his hands clutching his 'pregnant' tummy. Tori was gaping, her eyes full of shock and disbelief as the Bran Raisin box laid out on the floor, its contents spilling over onto the floor. As for the teacher himself, he had an expression of surprise etched into his face, his eyebrows raised and his mouth slightly open as he watched the unexpected scene unfold before him.

Shocked himself, and dimly aware of everyone's attention on him, Robbie heaved out a sigh as the signals from his brain finally reached his frozen legs and instructed them to put one foot in front of the other toward the door. This, he did with considerable effort and difficulty as the front door for some reason looked it was drifting away from him like a mirage. Grasping the doorknob, Robbie twisted it and pulled it open, walking through the door, for the final time, without as much as a backward glance.

As his legs carried him to his car, parked by the sidewalk in front of Sikowitz's house, Robbie's mind felt like it was under assault by his conscience.

'Why the hell did I just kiss Jade like that? Jade out of everyone?' He raged mentally to himself as he yanked his car door open, stepped into his car, plopped into his old, worn seat, and slammed the door closed with such a force that the car all but shook from the sheer force. 'Beck was there!'

At this single thought, a new emotion came flooding into him, one that he was distinctly familiar with: guilt. His face twisted into a grimace as he thought about what he had, less than a couple of minutes before, done. He had kissed the girlfriend of someone, a person who he was good friends with. And the worst part of it was, that, he had done it _willingly_, deliberately even. This was not an act done as a part of his acting character; this was an act done by nothing other than Robbie Shapiro himself.

He let out a groan. "What the fuck did I just get myself in?" He muttered out loud to himself as the weight of the situation finally settled down on his heart with such a force that it nearly took his breath away. He let his head drop into his steering wheel, banging it several times, each time a bit harder, before a screeching sound abrupt took him out of his thoughts and forced him to draw his head back in shock. He had accidentally set off the car horn.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Robbie inserted his keys into the ignition, turning it over and feeling the car hum to life. Shooting a last glance at Sikowitz's house, with the kiss permanently seared into his mind, Robbie drove away.

As he cruised through the road, perhaps a bit too fast, Robbie got this...sinking feeling, a feeling of despair and guilt, that he would have lot of explaining to do to his friends when he returned to school on Monday. For that reason alone, he really, really was not looking forward to that, _not at all_.

Thank God it was Friday.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, here it is. Hope it wasn't too detailed, but constructive criticism would be appreciated. If you don't like it, I suppose I can revert to my earlier, 'simpler' style.**

**As always, review! And review! :)**


	2. Why did you kiss me?

**A/N: Hello guys and gals, here's Chapter 2 of this story. Similar to my previous story, this story will alternate between Robbie, Jade, and possibly the others' POVs. In particular, this chapter will be in Jade's POV.**

**With that, thanks for the reviews, guys. I think I'll keep the current detailed writing style. I hope to make you proud of this chapter.**

**Without further ado, read, enjoy, review, and make me proud.**

**Oh yeah, before I forget: I don't own Victorious. Oh but if I did...think of all the Rade we could have...oh yeah... *drools***

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Two: Why did you kiss me?<strong>_

To say that Jade West's mind was utterly..._blown away_ by this completely unexpected kiss was a _vast_ understatement of the_ century_.

She remained rooted to the spot, frozen in place, as her dazed mind reflected on what had so recently transpired a couple of minutes earlier. Robbie Shapiro, the dorky, geeky boy who she had paired up with Trina Vega and Sinjin van Cleef as one of the most annoying people at Hollywood Arts-and probably in the entire world-had kissed her, _actually_ kissed her.

Right on the lips. And in front of everyone. Including Beck, her boyfriend and Tori, her hated rival.

Jade still could not believe that Robbie actually had the gall (or was it courage?) to do it in front of everyone who were currently gaping at her in stunned disbelief. Robbie, by kissing her, had completely disregarded the fact that she was already taken, that she was dating Beck Oliver. He had certainly known of that, but he still did it-and became the second person ever to kiss her.

And he wasn't acting in character anymore.

Her head felt like it was whirling around, while her heart was beating hard and her breaths were coming out in labored bursts. Her lips was still tingling-something that had never ever happened before in the thousands of times she had kissed Beck over the course of the twenty-three months they had been dating.

And it absolutely confused, thrilled, angered, and frightened her-all at the same time.

Adding to the conflicting sensations inside her was the fact that she...she..._actually_ liked the kiss! She had indeed felt sparks from the moment his lips had slammed into hers, something that strangely had not occurred even once with Beck. And that confused and aggravated her even more.

"W-wow! That definitely deserves some Raisin Bran! And speaking of which, would you all like some?" Tori spoke up in a raspy tone as she bent over to snatch the cereal box up from the floor and holding it out in front of her, her voice slightly shaky and the disbelieving expression still on her face as she continued to play her character, Pedesko the police officer who had an unhealthy obsession with the aforementioned healthy cereal product.

This certainly shattered the absolute silence, and the unbearable awkwardness, that had pervaded the room since Robbie had walked out through the front door.

Blinking her eyes several times, Jade took in a shaky breath in an attempt to clear her befuddled mind as she pasted on a fake grin on her face before turning to the group. "Well! He surely was happy to see me, don't cha think?" She quipped in a Southern accent.

"Yes, he surely was. But that looks a bit too...suspicious, don't ya think?" Beck spoke in his thick Cockney accent as he continued to hold Sikowitz's head. "In fact, I'll have to look into it, starting with this gentleman!" He declared dramatically as he touched the teacher's face, ignoring his protests.

'Serves Sikowitz right for organizing this stupid sleepover.' Jade thought as her face muscles began to strain a bit from grinning so much.

"Oooh, this run certainly...certainly took a _lot_ out of me. Oh man...I'm so close to bursting." Andre winced in an 'exhausted' tone in the same way a pregnant guy would say when he had been running for a whopping twenty-six miles non-stop, rubbing his 'bulging' tummy.

'Me too.' Jade thought as she strode over to Andre, standing behind him and placing her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them in a comforting way. That was what her character would do, of course.

Looking over at Beck, Jade noticed that, despite him acting in character, a flicker of shock and disappointment appeared on his face. Like he didn't almost kiss Tori while acting in character, Jade thought to herself angrily.

But then, Robbie wasn't acting in character...

Jade found herself thinking about the kiss as she moved about the room in her character like an automaton, spouting cheerful phrases and exclamations like a peppy Southern farm girl, and acting like it. She kept on thinking about the kiss, about Robbie, wondering why he did that..._all that stuff_. The more she delved into her mind, the more confused, irritated, and angry she became, more so that at one point she almost got disqualified when she let out an aggravated growl that, in a fit of quick thinking, she had quickly disguised as a cheerful squeal that was more befitting that of Cat than herself.

'Robbie...why did you kiss me?' She wondered to herself for what was probably the fifty time that day. 'And...and...why the fuck do I like it?' She swore that she could still feel his lips on hers.

So engrossed in her thoughts that she barely noticed Cat and Andre get disqualified, the former when Sikowitz's handsome nephew named Jason entered the living room and Cat voluntarily broke character in a fit of giggles by offering to go with him to the Moxie; the latter when his paranoid grandmother barged into the house because Andre had acted strangely by speaking like a pregnant guy into the phone, and essentially forced him into breaking character when he had to explain to her that this was an acting exercise.

However, she didn't notice Cat turn her head to give her a slight glare as she left the house with Jason.

There were the three of them left now.

For some strange reason, although she felt jealousy course through her for the second time today at the sight of Beck 'groping' Tori as per his character, Jade found her thoughts idly drifting over to Robbie, wondering about what he was doing right now, and if he liked the kis-

'Jade! Get a hold on yourself!' She berated herself angrily while she sprouted cheerful words on the outside when she was doing the exact opposite in her mind. But it was to no avail, her thoughts kept on coming back to the kiss, to the curly-haired nerd who instigated it in the first place.

Why? Why did it happen? Was it because of the kiss? Because it felt so..._amaz-_

"Miss Goldenheart, would you mind getting the tray of quesadilla out of the oven?" Sikowitz's voice snapped Jade out of her thoughts as she turned to the bearded teacher with a too-cheerful smile on her face.

"Why, certainly!" She chirped cheerfully as she made her way to the oven and opened it. However, so engrossed in her thoughts was she that she had forgotten to put on protective oven mittens.

"Wait! That tray just came out of the-" Sikowitz called out, but it was too late.

Jade had retrieved the tray. And immediately regretted it. A _burning_ pain unlike she had ever experienced before in her life shot through her hand as she let out a scream of pain, dropping the burning hot tray onto the kitchen counter.

"-oven." Sikowitz finished, wincing as he looked at Jade.

The pain was so_ excruciating_ that she actually stopped thinking about Robbie and the kiss as she felt the corners of her eyes begin to water at the extreme pain emanating from her right hand. Looking over at it, she could see...serious burn marks on the palm of her hand. It looked like it was developing blusters. Midst the pain (definitely _not_ the good kind), Jade struggled to maintain her cheery Betty-Sue composition, finding it harder and harder to maintain as the throbbing in her hand became worse.

"My goodness! The tray was hot." Jade's voice sounded strained as she held up her hand to Beck, Tori, and Sikowitz, all who had concerned faces. "Oh, lookey here! My skin's starting to blister, and I do believe that is the sweet smell of my burning flesh", she said with a strained smile as she made her way toward the front door.

"Jade, perhaps I should drive you t-" Sikowitz stated in a concerned tone as he made a step toward Jade. He wasn't trying to disqualify Jade by trying to trick her out of character; he was genuinely concerned about her.

"Jade? Who's Jade? My name is Betty-Sue Goldenheart, a happy farm girl who happens to be experiencing _extreme_ pain right now." Jade said through gritted teeth, managing to sound cheerful as the pain convulsed through her hand, the tears pooling at the corners of her eyes threatening to fall out.

"Jad-I mean, Betty-" Sikowitz began but was cut off by Jade.

"If you will excuse me, I really have to go now. It was nice meeting with you." Jade said 'cheerfully' as she bolted to the door, dimly aware that the last part of her statement was similar to what she had said to Robbie before he...kissed her. Holding her burned hand, Jade bit her lips, feeling tears drop down her cheeks, as she dashed toward the neighbor's car, barely hearing Sikowitz's admiring comment to Tori that she "never broke character."

Feeling the pain grow too much for her to contain in any longer, Jade let out a pained scream that was surely out of her character as she slammed her fists through the car's window with such a strength she didn't know she had possessed, feeling the window shatter into several shards that cut into her hand.

Somewhere in the dark recesses in the back of her mind, Jade knew she had lost the game, that she was for all purposes and intents banished from Sikowitz's house, like Robbie, Cat, and Andre had been several hours earlier. But Jade sure as hell did not care about that, she never wanted to go back into Sikowitz's house ever again.

Feeling the pain, along with anger, ebb away to a more...'tolerable' level (her hands were still stinging badly, though, so She would have to go see a doctor), Jade took in a breath in an attempt to help calm herself down. She grimaced as she looked at her burned, and now bloodied, hand.

As she scurried away from the neighbor's now-wrecked car at the sounds of police sirens that were growing louder and louder, toward her car that was parked some distance away, Jade thought about the kiss once again. What irked her was not only the kiss itself, but because she was more interested (or is concerned the right word?) on why Robbie kissed her than she was concerned about the fact Beck, her boyfriend, was alone in that house with...that _bitch_.

Well, they weren't exactly alone, given that Sikowitz was there with them, but still...

Getting into the seat of her car, Jade scowled as she grabbed several tissues to clean up her bleeding hand before starting up the car. As she drove away into the dark night that probably mirrored her soul, Jade had one thing set in her determined mind. Well, more like a couple of things.

Robbie had a _lot_ of explaining to do. And he _damn well_ better have a good explanation.

And she needed a good explanation herself of why her heart sped up a bit at the memory of Robbie kissing her.

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><p><strong>AN: Whoo, another chapter over, another to go. I'm sure that if someone who you thought were the most annoying person on the planet kissed you out of the blue, you would be confused out of your mind, and if you were like Jade, you would probably get mad and wonder why he did that and all that, right? Right?**

**Anyways...hope you like.**

**As usual, read, enjoy, review, and keep your eyes peeled for the next update! :)**


	3. What am I going to do?

**A/N: Hello guys and gals, here's Chapter Three, in its detailed glory! This chapter is in Robbie's POV, and focuses on his feelings and thoughts about the prospects of facing Jade.**

**I suppose the confront-I mean, talk between Robbie and Jade will take place in the next chapter, so look out for that.**

**With that said, I decided to publish this as a belated Fourth of July present for y'all...lol. I had a busy day on the Fourth of July, though. The fireworks surely were awesome, huh? **

**Without further ado, enjoy!**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Three: What am I going to do?<strong>_

It was a bright Monday morning. The sky was bright cerulean blue, the clouds floating up high in the Los Angeles sky, the winds were gently blowing, brushing through the leaves and grasses, and the birds were certainly chirping as they flew through the air.

Or at least that was what Robbie thought.

It was seven o'clock, and Robbie was still in bed, his covers pulled up to his nose, his hands clutching the ends of the cover tightly as if it could save him from the inevitability of having to go to school on this bright, Monday morning. And having to face the wrath of a certain Jade that he was fairly certain awaited him in these now-accursed locker-covered halls of Hollywood Arts.

The kiss had been on his mind all weekend, so much that it had become a near-obsession that was threatening to overtake him. During the days, his mind became befuddled about the kiss, and rife with worry and panic about the impeding confrontation with Jade that he knew was probably inevitable come Monday; during the night, he kept on turning and twisting into his bed, unable to sleep because of his tormenting thoughts. And when he finally got to sleep, he dreamt about the kiss, his brain going on about it like a broken record that kept on going and going forever in an indeterminable loop. For the two nights over the weekend, he dreamed that he had leant forward and claimed Jade's lips with his. And it didn't help that Rex kept on teasing and taunting him about that.

As his eyes were scanning over the spaceships that dotted the Galaxy Stars wallpaper that covered the walls of his room-and desperately wishing he could get on one of these and blast off into the stars beyond-his mind was still on about the kiss that he had out of the blue gave to Jade last Friday like flies flitting on honey, vultures circling around a rotting carcass, like a clever black panther trailing an unsuspecting deer.

And he was certainly sure that he was going to be the hapless prey of the Jade predator in the Hollywood Arts hunting grounds. After all, he was the vulnerable deer and Jade was the mighty black panther.

Robbie sighed heavily to himself as he continued to lay there under the safety of his bed covers, Rex besides him dressed in his flashy pajamas and a sleep mask over his eyes. Glancing at his diminutive best friend, Robbie felt a pang of envy, jealousy, resentment - feelings of which were leveled against himself. Rex didn't have to deal with the consequences of his actions...he wasn't the one who got eliminated because he got out of character in a wacky sleepover, he wasn't the one who leaned over and gave a certain scissor-loving Goth girl dressed up as a cheery cowgirl a wholly-unexpected kiss right on the lips in front of her boyfriend, friends, and teacher.

And yet, at the same time, in a certain way, Rex did have to deal with all this...because he was Robbie himself, an outlet of which Robbie used to express himself openly in front of people.

Robbie let out a cry of anguish as he pulled his covers over his head, shutting his eyes as if that would will the too-bright morning sun away and turn back time so he would not have to get up and go to his certain, Jade-induced doom at school.

"Robbie! You need to get ready if you're going to be on time for school!" His mother's voice boomed out from downstairs.

But alas, it was not to happen. As usual, nothing ever went his way in life. If anything, they always went against him, often in a myriad of painful-be it physical or emotional or a combination of both-ways. He was like Chris from 'Everyone Hates Chris' in real-life; in fact, they should rename the show to 'Everyone Hates Robbie' and replace the black guy with an awkward Jewish guy carrying around a creepy puppet, and this would be an equally, if not more, as popular a show for its accurate portrayal of his life. Except unlike Chris, he had more than one best friend, and he lived in Los Angeles instead of New York.

If anything, his initial plan for staying at home instead of going to school-in other words, skipping school-so he would not have to face the certain, alas terrifying consequences of his actions went up in smokes. But he had no choice. He knew better than to argue with his parents, especially his mother who had _quite_ a temper, and he completely and utterly sucked at lying. How ironic of the latter, given that he was attending a _freaking_ acting school.

But then, that was Robbie Shapiro for you.

Dragging his body-with every part of it mutinying against this traitorous move-out of the comfort, safety, and security of his soft and warm bed, Robbie trudged over to the shower. At least he would get to be clean and tidy for his imminent execution, like a prisoner on death row whose turn had come. As soon he was finished in the shower, of which he nearly slipped on a rogue bar of soap and split his head open - oh how he wished was the case - Robbie slowly put on his clothes.

"Robbie! Hurry up! You're going to be late for school!" His mother's yell jolted Robbie up and caused him to quicken his pace as he finished putting on his clothes, slung on his backpack, grabbed Rex up from the bed, ignoring the puppet's protests about "not being ready yet", and sprinted down the stairs, running past his mother out the front door with a quick "Bye Mom!", and jumping onto his car.

Glancing at the car clock as he turned the key in the ignition and felt the car vibrate, Robbie saw that it was five minutes before school started.

Yep, he was _definitely_ going to be late.

As he stepped on the accelerator, as the car veered into the street, Robbie felt his stomach turn and churn inside of him, similar to the way that Lane's gluten cookies had made him feel, as nervousness and nausea swept over him as tormenting thoughts about how he would face Jade after he had done flooded his mind.

"I can't believe I'm still wearing pjs!" Rex grumbled from his place in the front passenger seat next to Robbie, but the young ventriloquist, mired in his frantic thoughts, either ignored or didn't hear his best friend.

'What am I going to do?' Robbie thought to himself repeatedly as he made various stops at random traffic lights and stop signs. The stop signs sure were colored bright red...like his blood was going to be when they squirted out of him, courtesy of Jade. Robbie shuddered at this terrifying thought before he took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down, to little avail.

Before he knew it, the distinctive landscape of Hollywood Arts loomed in the distance, and a new feeling joined the now-familiar feelings of nervousness and nausea that were now engulfing his body with renewed force and vigor: dread. He could almost feel dread cut into his heart like thousands of sharp knives as his car veered into the parking lot.

How could he face Jade, much less Beck, and his friends after what he had done?

As Robbie turned into the parking spot farthest from the school as possible (and Hollywood Arts didn't really have that large of a parking lot), he let out a heavy sigh as he turned to Rex, who turned his head toward him. If the dummy could scowl, he would've done it: "I still can't believe that I'm here at school in pajamas! If people begin teasing me-I have a reputation to uphold-you're going to get it for real."

Had Rex been his own person, Robbie would've actually cringed a bit at the threatening hint in his best friend's voice, but Robbie knew that he was only threatening himself through a wooden dummy dressed up in flashy pajamas.

"Rex, I'm sorry about this." Robbie sighed, knowing he was only speaking to himself. "It's just that-that, I got a lot on my mind, y'know? I have spare clothes-"

"Is this about this kiss that you gave to Jade?" Rex spoke up. Rex had somehow knew about the kiss, for obvious reasons stated several times earlier in this fan fiction.

Robbie blinked for a moment before he nodded. "Yes, but that was wrong-I got cau-"

"What's wrong with that? You got yourself a free kiss from a hot babe. I have never been so proud of you before in my life." Rex remarked. Robbie sighed.

"You know what? I don't have time, I'm late as it is", he glanced at the car clock, which signified that he was fifteen minutes late for class. "Let's get you changed." Ignoring Rex's whining protests, Robbie promptly got Rex dressed into the backup clothes-looking away for formality's sake-before getting out of the car, holding his best friend up while he surveyed the expanse of the parking lot.

"This is it." He whispered to himself as he took a breath before stepping his right foot forward, following up with his left foot, and continuing the pace in a slow way.

"Ready to face her?" Rex said in a cackling tone, as if reading Robbie's mind. Robbie sighed deeply, feeling the feelings still churning inside him, his organs, most particularly his heart and stomach, doing somersaults.

"Rex, you're not helping." Robbie muttered as Rex's laughter echoed in his ear. He took his time slowly and deliberately across the parking lot, biding his time as the Hollywood Arts building loomed closer and closer with every step. He was already very late for his first period, but he wasn't worried about that, mainly because there were other, far-more pressing concerns etched in his mind. As Robbie got closer, he couldn't help but get this feeling that he was approaching the electric chair that was patiently waiting for him, beckoning him forward with its long finge-

He blinked the thought away as he once again felt nervousness flow all over him. Although class was currently in session-twenty minutes into the fifty-minute session - he silently prayed that he wouldn't encounter his friends, most particularly Jade, in the hallway while they were heading to the restroom or something. He'd sworn that with every step he took toward the school's front doors, he felt his heart thud hard in his increasingly constricted chest.

Resisting the sore temptation to turn around and walk back the way he came, and enduring Rex's taunting that wafted through his ear, Robbie took the giant step of faith through the doors. As soon he peered into the hallways, he let out a giant sigh of relief, feeling the tension that was steadily building inside him deflate somewhat.

The hallways were deserted, nobody in sight. Everyone was in class, it seemed.

'Good.' Robbie thought to himself as he cautiously treaded through the hallways toward his locker. As he reached it, and twisted the combination lock with his fingers, he involuntarily shuddered as he looked over at Jade's locker beside his.

The scissors on display on the front of Jade's locker, with its gleaming blades, served as a painful, and too-obvious, reminder of what Jade would probably do to him. He gulped as he tore his eyes from such a...horrifying display and set his eyes on the comforting tenets of his locker as the combination lock clicked and he opened it.

As he set Rex down into the locker, and began taking out various books for his classes and putting them in his backpack, Robbie not only worried, indeed dreaded, about how he would explain himself to his friends, but his mind began formulating of how he could...avoid them or something.

Yeah, he was a coward. But hey, it was probably the best way to get through alive, in one piece. If he couldn't avoid them by skipping school, he could still do that while he was attending school. It was at this, however, that a thought of realization struck his mind: he couldn't do that forever, no matter how hard he tried or how drastic he went about that. And that was not mentioning the fact that he did have one class with his friends: Sikowitz's Acting Methods class.

Robbie groaned at this thought, his heart feeling like it was slowly sinking into the icy sea of dread like the Titanic plunging into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Heaving a sigh, Robbie retrieved Rex from the locker, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and slammed the locker shut.

'What am I going to do?' Robbie thought dejectedly to himself as he skulked off to his class.

* * *

><p>Robbie gulped for what seemed like the billionth time as he walked toward Sikowitz's class, the distance between him and the classroom door seeming to stretch into forever. His legs felt like lead, getting heavier with every step, his heart threatening to lurch out of its constricted ribcage.<p>

As he neared closer and closer to Sikowitz's classroom door, Robbie thought about his successes - that is, if they can be called 'successes' - so far. Whenever the bell rang, Robbie would rush out of the classroom, weave through the crowds of students that rapidly filed into the hallways to his next class, praying that he didn't bump into Jade, Tori, Beck, Andre, or Cat along the way. But, alas, luck wasn't on his side as the task was actually harder than he thought; not only was the risk of bumping into his friends-especially into Jade's sharp claws-too real, but he actually came close to doing so, more than once.

For instance, after the last-half of his first period class, Robbie had gone out into the corridor, turning around a corner-only to nearly bump into Beck himself, missing him by mere centimeters. Luckily for him, the long-haired boy was looking the other way and as such didn't notice the terrified ventriloquist slip past him. As his legs carried him to where he was going, he once saw Tori and Cat off in the distance before turning into the opposite direction. However, the most terrifying part came when he was rushing over to his third period class-and actually came within viewing distance of Jade herself in the crowd. And the fun part was, that, she actually caught sight of him, her eyes widening as she set her sights on him. His heart leaping into his throat, Robbie felt fear and nervousness jolt through him as he sped off, clutching Rex tightly against his chest. Risking a glance over his shoulder, Robbie saw that Jade was actually chasing after him, the students leaping out of her way due to their respect, and fear, of the Goth, a determined scowl on her face. And this prompted him to run even faster.

Just when Jade was gaining up on him, Robbie managed to slip into the classroom just on time as the loud bell reverberated throughout the air, getting to his seat with a loud plop and drawing some weird looks from students around him. Jade had stopped just short of the classroom door, giving him a glare before she turned around and stomped away.

Robbie had exhaled out a breath of relief as he slumped into his seat, his chest rising and falling as he took several breaths, feeling drained from the 'chase'.

The other aspect about luck not being on his side was that, contrary to his hopes and expectations, time actually went by fast. He felt that no sooner had he sat down on his seat did time fast-forward to the bell ringing, signaling the end of his current class and the beginning of his panicked dash through the hallway to his next one. It was as if Time itself was tormenting him.

Nutrition Break. It was now Nutrition Break, the ten-minute break that he knew he had to spend the time hiding, and there was one place where he could hide in such a short notice: the boy's restroom, located across the hall from his current classroom. And so he made his way there, maneuvering his way through the hallway there. Once again, when he'd sat down into one of the stalls, time seemed to pass by with a blink of an eye, and before he knew it, he had to make yet another of his arduous journey to his next class. And so the cycle repeated itself again.

And so he found himself approaching Sikowitz's classroom, where the final beckoning awaited him. Robbie took in a shaky breath as he tried to harden his resolve, failing miserably. He had by then realized that he couldn't avoid his friends forever, but nevertheless, he wanted to draw that out for as long as possible.

But that was about to come to a _screeching_ halt.

Robbie now found himself standing in front of Sikowitz's classroom door, seeing the bearded teacher give a lecture in his own unique ways through the small door window. He was slightly late, he knew. All he had to do was reach over and turn the doorknob, and he would be inside.

_And be in the same room as her._

Robbie's brain sent out instructions in the form of neurotic signals that traveled all the way from his brain alongside the nerve center down to his right arm, making it reach out, grab the doorknob, grasp it firmly, and turn it. The hinges squeaked slightly as Robbie pulled it open and walked through the doorway.

Immediately, he felt all eyes dart over at him and felt...vulnerable, exposed. His cheek inflaming with embarrassment, Robbie could feel Jade's eyes bore a hole through him, but he refused to look in her direction. Sikowitz was looking at him with his eyebrows raised, a slight disappointment in his eyes.

Robbie proceeded to go sit on one of the chairs in the back of the room when Sikowitz suddenly ordered him to go sit in the front, pointing at the aforementioned seat. Robbie groaned in protest as he got up and dragged his feet to the designated seat, feeling her gaze on him the whole time.

There was no way he could easily dash to the door without bumping into someone. And everyone knew he had terrible balance.

Plopping into his forced seat, Robbie kept his eyes resolutely trained on Sikowitz, tensing up whenever he got this...familiar sensation of eyes setting upon him from time to time, feeling himself relax when that sensation faded away.

Unlike its earlier behavior, Time decided to pull a turnaround on him. Never before in his life had time gone so..._slow_ that it was being right now, and in Sikowitz's class out of all. Apparently, this was one of Time's cruel tricks on him by forcing him to spend what seemed like forever in a class that the girl whom he had kissed last Friday happened to be in.

Worst of all, Sikowitz was doing evaluations on the group's performance in his sleep over the last week, beginning with the person who was eliminated first and continuing on to the victor.

Guess who would go first? Yeah.

"Hm...who was eliminated first?" The ever-forgetful Sikowitz asked, slurping his ever-present coconut in his hand. The students gave him perplexed looks.

"Robbie." Jade spoke up, surprising even him. Sikowitz stared at her blankly. "What about Robbie?" Jade rolled her eyes. "He broke character, and was eliminated first." She continued, glancing over at Robbie.

A grin crossed over Sikowitz's face as if he had been struck by realization. "Oh yes! Robbie, get over here!" He gestured at the toward the front of the class.

What. The. Hell.

Robbie had never wanted to sink through the ground so much as he did right now. If he had to sit in front of his class...it would mean he would have to face her too.

"What are you waiting for, lover boy? Get your ass over there!" Rex chided as few students stifled their chuckles.

Swallowing, Robbie got up and walked, with shaking legs, over to the front, where he reluctantly turned to face the class, feeling the sense of vulnerability sweep over him as he felt the eyes of every student bore into him. Everyone was staring at him. Tori had a slightly concerned expression on her face, Cat was smiling at him, Andre was looking at him with one of his eyebrows raised, Beck had a neutral expression on his face...and Jade had an unreadable expression on her face. She was staring intently at him, her eyes seemingly to say, 'we will talk about this.' He gulped once again.

"So...tell us about your performance in-character, Robbie." Sikowitz said, a grin on his bearded face as he beckoned Robbie to begin.

"Uh..um..." Robbie cleared his suddenly-dry throat. "I-I did good, I guess. I played a motivational speaker with jelly for legs." He was aware he was stammering a bit, feeling like jelly at this moment. "I w-was eliminated early because I-"

"_Boring!_ Tell us about your hot kiss with Jade!" Rex piped up.

Robbie literally wanted to die from the sheet amount of embarrassment he was feeling right now. "_Rex!_" He hissed at his best friend, horrified.

Daring a reluctant glance at Jade, Robbie noticed she was looking on at him with interest...and _blushing_? The lights in the room must be playing tricks on him. Yes, they were.

"Ah, yes. The kiss." Sikowitz spoke up. "That was in-character, right?" Most of the class gave him strange looks.

"Uh, no. It wasn't. Robbie kissed her after he was eliminated, remember?" Andre pointed out.

'Thanks a lot, Andre.' Robbie thought dejectedly to himself.

The teacher raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh really? Huh, how interesting. Do that mean you like Jade, Robbie?"

Oh. My. God.

"Yes, he d-" Robbie immediately covered Rex's mouth.

"Uh...um...w-what does that have to do with this evaluation?" Robbie stammered, his heart pounding with fear.

Sikowitz's face lit up in realization. "Oh yes! Thanks for reminding me. Robbie, your acting was very good, it's just that you broke out of character because you thought I was hurt. A good actor must remain in character, no matter what happens around you."

With that, he beckoned Robbie back to his seat before calling Cat over. Robbie did so, feeling so embarrassed and dejected as he slid slowly into his seat, refusing to look at Jade.

Or anyone for that matter.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Phew! I think this was officially the longest chapter I ever had to write for this story, lol. Almost 4,000 words.**

**Once again, I hope you liked. This chapter may seem to move slowly, but things will pick up a little in the next chapter (and not to mention, get more interesting), I swear! :)**

**So...yeah.**

**As usual, review! :D**


	4. Face the music

**A/N: Well peeps, here is it, Chapter Four of 'Fateful Decisions.' You remember that I had stated the confrontation would take place in this chapter? Uh, yeah. Um, I...I might have made some..._teensy_ adjustments to the flow of the story and this chapter.**

***cough***

**Yeah...enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Four: Face the music<strong>_

Jade scowled.

Robbie had gotten away. _Again_.

When the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch, Robbie had bolted out of his chair with such speed befitting more that of the Roadrunner evading a hungry Wile E. Coyote than a shy, curly-haired, socially-awkward ventriloquist who had given her a surprise kiss last Friday that it surprised everyone in the room, even herself.

The fact that she was angry, frustrated, irritated, exasperated, pissed off, was not too far-fetched a proposition. However, in addition to these usual emotions (for her, anyways), she had also felt...other emotions course through her in Sikowitz's class that she knew she shouldn't be feeling, but had nevertheless felt.

Glancing at her bandaged right hand, Jade's mind went back to that fateful day once again, for what seemed like the billionth time. As she thought about Robbie's lips slamming into hers, once again, she felt strange, but yet familiar, feelings sweep over her once again. Her heart began to flutter a bit, and she even got an inkling of butterflies in her stomach. These feelings she immediately stamped out, driving them away with her sheer willpower-and yet she knew such feelings would keep on filtering back, slowly but surely growing stronger, like a trickle of water leaking through a cracked dam. Over time, the force of the water would prove to be too much for the dam to hold, and the dam would crumble, unleashing a torrent of water that would sweep away everything that stood in its way.

Such feelings had plagued her from the moment Robbie's lips made contact with hers, and tormented her mind throughout the weekend, during the day and the night. Even spending time with Beck in his RV on Saturday night didn't abate such feelings one bit; if anything, it made them slightly stronger.

And she didn't like it, not one bit. And what bothered, and yet exhilarated, her was the fact that the memory of the kiss was not the only aspect that stirred such...feelings from inside her. Earlier today, when she saw Robbie for the first time since last Friday in the crowded hallway, she not only felt surprise upon setting her sights upon him, but she swore her heart began to lurch up a bit, like...like...she was glad to see him, or something like that. These feelings were to prove to be short-lived, for the time being, before she smothered them and sprinted after a fleeing Robbie, thankful for her high social status at the school that caused students to get out of her way.

One can only imagine how she felt when she was so close, and yet so far from achieving her objective.

"Jade, are you okay?"

But no matter, she thought to herself, not aware of a certain long-haired boy's concerned voice wafting over to her. She would corner Robbie, get him right where she wanted him, and she would force answers out from him, one way or another. Oh yes, she would do that. Robbie couldn't keep on avoiding her forever.

"Jade? You okay? Jade!"

Jade was brought out of her reverie with such a force that she almost lost her footing and nearly dropped her Jetbrew coffee in the process. Taking a breath, she blinked a couple of times before turning to Beck, putting on an annoyed expression on her face as she glared at her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She said simply. Beck raised his eyebrows. "You sure? You look like something's bothering you." He inquired, ever the loving boyfriend he always was.

"Apart from the fact that Vega over there annoyed me with her oh-perfect victory, or the fact you two slept together in Sikowitz's house, nothing's bothering me." She said sarcastically. Beck sighed.

"Jade, we did not do that. You should know that." He said as he put his arm around her. Jade rolled her eyes.

"Likely story."

"Beck's right." Tori spoke up as she, Andre, and Cat walked behind them as they walked out of Sikowitz's classroom. "For one thing, I slept on the couch and he on the armchair. And what's gotten in you, anyways?" She asked, a concerned-and-yet-annoyed expression on her petite face. Jade rolled her eyes again.

"Of course, you would say that. I'm not the one who rubbed my boyfriend in the first place." Jade snapped, feeling more irritated than usual as she glared at Tori. "But then, I'm not the one who went 'Oh look at me, I'm Victorious!'" Jade said the last sentence in a mocking 1940s actress voice that riled Tori up to no end.

"I don't speak like that!" Came the indignant reply.

After that, Jade tuned her rival, boyfriend, and redheaded best friend - who was telling a random tale about how her brother had been victorious in a ping pong game but had gotten tired and had to lay on a couch - out as her thoughts returned to Robbie once again. Or to be specific, the way Robbie acted in class and the way Sikowitz had asked him about if he liked her. She remembered feeling her cheek heat up a bit when Rex generally humiliated Robbie by telling him to talk about the "hot kiss" in front of the class; and she also remembered feeling more interested on Robbie's response of whether he liked her, for some reason.

'Does Robbie like me?' She wondered as she walked through the crowded hallways toward the Asphalt Cafe. And it was at that she found that she wasn't as grossed-out or freaked out at the thoughts of the boy who she'd picked on a daily basis liking, as in really liking, her as she should have been. In fact, she almost felt..._flattered_, touched even.

And that confused, irritated, frustrated her even more.

She _REALLY_ had to find Robbie. And _soon_.

* * *

><p>Robbie felt like a coward as he weaved through the students that filed into the hallway after classes were done. He knew he was. And he was.<p>

"Man, you're a coward." Rex spoke up, pinpointing Robbie's feelings accurately. "When are you gonna man up and face the music?"

That.

As soon the bell rang, before the students were even close to getting up from their seats and grabbing their backpacks, Robbie had bolted from his seat and was out of the door in a flash. He had actually surprised, and impressed, himself there.

Recriminations against himself running through his mind, which were manifested in the form of Rex's insults on the outside, and his heart pounding in his chest, Robbie thought frantically about where he could go to hide from his friends, especially Jade.

The Asphalt Cafe was clearly and obviously a no-no (and he wasn't that hungry, anyways), and so was the Jet Brew coffee shop. He could hide in one of the classrooms, but he was fairly sure his friends would look for him there. And the bathrooms, one of which had provided a safe haven during Nutrition Break, were now off-limits as Beck or Andre would surely look there.

Robbie groaned as he slowed his pace a bit, looking around for a suitable place to hide until next class.

Then a thought hit him with the force of a sledgehammer. There was, in fact, such a place he could hide out in. Surely, it would not be too obvious a place to take refuge in..._right_?

The Hollywood Auditorium. Aside from rare auditions and the occasional gatherings for various school clubs, the Auditorium was barely used, being deserted most of the time, unlike the oft-used Black Box Theater. A physically-imposing building, the Auditorium - with its black-colored walls (interestingly similar to the Black Box Theater), various props, chairs, and obstacles that could easily obscure him, large rows of seats, along with its fairly remote location - would be a perfect hiding place.

As he sped off in the direction of the Auditorium, Robbie's mental attacks against himself resumed. 'Why can't I face my friends? And Jade?' He thought to himself as his feet pounded on the pavement, his heart pounding in his chest. He was now heading across the parking lot toward the Auditorium, which was located a short distance away from Hollywood Arts, across the parking lot.

The answer was simple: he was a coward.

"You're a wuss, you know that?" Rex taunted his best friend as Robbie pushed through the theater doors, his chest heaving slightly from the running he had to do.

"Don't make me throw you against the wall." Robbie muttered as he looked around the darkened theater, his eyes scanning across the large rows of seats and curtained stage for a suitable place so he could regain his breath.

"Go ahead, try it. But I know you won't do that."

Robbie didn't reply, nor follow up on his threat, as he skulked toward the stage, jumping on it and brushing his way through the curtains. It was nearly pitch-dark there, which was perfect (at least, until someone entered the place, turned on the lights and pulled back the curtains, which he hoped wouldn't happen). Groping around a bit for a wall on the back of the stage, Robbie let out a sigh as he lowered himself to the floor, letting his legs stretch on the floor as he plopped his back on the wall, savoring the darkness that engulfed him, that provided a sense of...safety and security.

He closed his eyes and exhaled out a breath.

* * *

><p>"He's not in there." Beck said simply as he and Andre walked out of the fourth restroom they had checked during lunch.<p>

Tori sighed, while Cat had a worried expression on her face. Jade was standing with them with a neutral expression on her face, when in fact she was getting a bit concerned for her nerdy...friend.

Contrary to the assumption that Robbie's friends would simply go eat in the cafeteria, they were actually looking for him, his strange behavior as well the kiss he had given to Jade being the catalyst to all this. But not before going to the cafeteria to grab their lunch first before setting out on the search, of course.

"We've checked everywhere. The cafe itself, many classrooms, the janitor's closet, the media room, the Black Box Theater, even the nerd science club!" Andre muttered, throwing his hands up. "Where could he be?"

"Yeah, I wonder the same." Jade spoke up in a dry tone, rolling her eyes.

"This reminds me of this time Luke got lost. I looked around everywhere, and was unable to find him. But eventually, I found him." Cat spoke up randomly as she usually did. Andre and Tori looked over at her weirdly.

"Luke? Is that your brother?" Andre asked. Cat shook her head, her red hair flying about.

"No, it was my cat." She said giddily, a grin on her face, her eyes sparkling.

"That's...interesting." Tori spoke up, while Beck shook his head a bit. Cat, however, looked a bit offended.

"What's that supposed to mean!"

If Tori, Cat, Jade, and Beck had met Cat for the first time, they would've actually been worried and possibly put-off by what appeared to be Cat's schizotypal or otherwise bipolar personality, but given that they had known Cat for nearly three years (or in Tori's case, over a year), they were pretty used to it. Most especially her famous catchphrase, "What's that supposed to mean!"

"Cat, shut up. We're looking for Robbie here." Jade said snarky, making Cat gasp. Beck nodded.

"Yea, the boy who made out with my girlfriend." Beck said with a slight chuckle. Jade looked at him, an eyebrow raised. Beck didn't look or sound mad, angry, furious, or anything like that, not at all. Not especially when his friend had smacked lips with his girlfriend in front of him? Jade had always known that Beck had a laid-back personality in the two years and eleven months they had been dating, but she certainly didn't know he was that...casual about it. Or perhaps he was actually furious and was able to hide it extremely well, given that he was a very talented actor.

But then, she didn't really know, given that Beck was an enigmatic person, difficult to read into.

'Do I really know little about Beck?' Jade wondered to herself. Was there much regarding Beck that she had yet to know? Before Jade could delve further into this-

"Hey, there's one place we haven't checked yet." Tori spoke up, having done some thinking for a while. Andre, Beck, Cat, and Jade turned to her. "Do tell, latina." Andre implored, nodding toward his best friend.

"The Hollywood Arts Auditorium."

* * *

><p>"You should face her. Surely she might actually kill you, but at least you would've died a better man." Rex was giving Robbie a 'pep talk.'<p>

Robbie sighed as he turned his head to Rex, barely visible in the darkness of the auditorium stage.

"Rex, I'm not in the mood for jokes." He said. "And that's a horrible thing to say."

"Which part? You being a better man? I agree, that was a horrible thing to say." The dummy smarted sarcastically. Robbie rolled his eyes as he leaned his head back on the wall. As he stared ahead, his eyes tracing the faint outline of the curtains a short distance in front of him, Robbie thought about how...comfortable the darkness was. It had this strange calming effect of solitary, a place of which enabled him to reflect on several aspects that had been on his mind as of lately.

He had no idea of how long he had been in here, but he was fairly sure that lunch should be done soon. Which was perfect, considering he could easily find a way to evade his friends to his fifth and sixth periods, and then high-tail it to home. And then he would figure out what to do tomorrow and afterwards.

As he opened his mouth to speak to Rex, Robbie heard the theater doors open and a scatterings of footsteps and voices, of which were too faint to discern. He froze, holding his breath for what seemed like a long moment as his alert ears focused on the sources of the noises. He began to hope it wasn't his friends, because if it was, he would be screw-

"See anyone in here?" Tori's voice echoed out, followed by Jade's sneering reply of "Oh yeah, judging by the sheer darkness in here, anyone could be here!" accompanied by another of Tori's retorts.

Robbie felt his eyes widen as his heart began to speed up its beat, pumping enough blood through his veins throughout his body that brought a sensation similar to adrenaline rushing through him like a huge destructive tidal wave.

Oh _shit_...they were here? Oh fuck, he was screwed. All they had to do was turn on the lights, and then go through the curtains, and they would see him, right and then. Then he would be _really_ screwed.

'But perhaps they could realize that nothing was in the auditorium - apart from you, of course - and promptly leave?' A voice from the back of his mind spoke up to him hopefully. It was at this that Robbie felt a small ray of hope course through him. If they did that...it would be pretty great, actually. Once they'd left, he would quietly slip out of the auditorium and then-

The lights inside the auditorium suddenly flickered on. What was once the comforting fog of darkness was abruptly evaporated by a flood of heavenly lights that illuminated the place. The stage was still fairly shrouded in slight darkness, given the fact the curtains were still closed - and as such were the only 'barrier' shielding him from his friends - but if anyone poked their head in, they would easily see him in there. And then Jade would use her scissors, or any sharp objects she might have with her, to murder him right there and then.

His heart pounding so loudly inside his chest that he silently prayed Tori, Cat, Beck, Andre, and Jade wouldn't hear it from the short distance that separated them from him, and his eyes slowly adjusting to the change in the brightness level, Robbie slowly got up from the floor, clutching Rex in his shaking hands.

"Ohh, they're here, now-" Rex, who had opened his mouth to speak, and in a loud tone, suddenly felt a hand clamp over his mouth swiftly and painfully (well, it would've been painful, had Rex been a real person that Robbie at times believed him to be).

"I'll check between the rows of seats." Beck's voice wafted out, followed by Andre's confirmation that he would help his long-haired friend out. "I'll check the stage!" Cat's chirpy voice called out in turn, one that caused his heart to lurch into his throat in sheer terror.

Remember that particular part about nothing ever going his way in his life, and that everything usually went against him in a variety of often-humiliating and painful ways? This definitely was it.

_'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.'_ Robbie mentally chanted to himself as he heard Cat's footsteps get closer and closer to the stage, his panic and terror growing with each step. What should he do? Should he run for it? Or should he remain where he was and be found out?

If he stayed, as soon Cat opened the curtains to peer inside, he'd be done for, his cover completely and utterly blown apart like the Locust at the receiving end of Marcus Fenix's Lancer gun in Gears of War. That would be an extraordinarily brave move worthy of a Congressional Medal of Honor for personal bravery, and a Purple Heart after being killed by a certain scissor-loving girl. But on the other hand, as soon he made a run for it, he would forever receive the stigma of a military deserter who deserved nothing less than execution by firing squad.

Still, Robbie felt his mind begin to overload from the sheer amount of neurons streaming through the gray matter that was his brain in panic. As soon as he saw Cat's thin fingers slip through the hems of the curtains and curl around them as to get ready to pry them open, Robbie made a snap decision as a sole thought appeared in his panic-addled mind and overwhelmed other, more rational thoughts.

_Run._

Bravery be damned. He was a coward, he knew it, and he would now freely admit it to himself.

"Robbie!" He barely heard Cat's squeal as he ran into a charge, whizzing past the surprised redhead, past the curtains, past his shocked friends, past the double doors, across the parking lot, rushing toward Hollywood Arts. Behind him, a storm of "Robbie! Robbie!" raged before he heard a stampede of footsteps pound on the pavement of the parking lot.

He didn't need to look behind him to know that his friends were steadily gaining up on him, most particularly Jade, given the increasingly loud footsteps that thudded from behind him. Cruising through the front doors of Hollywood Arts, Robbie somehow weaved through the crowds of students that stood around the school's hallways before he tore up the stairs that led to the second floor in an attempt to throw off his friends off his trail.

His heart pounding painfully in his chest, Robbie dared a glance behind him after having gone through several corridors and around corners - and exhaled a sigh of relief. Tori, Andre, Beck, Cat, and especially Jade, was nowhere in sight. He slowed down to a brisk walk, inhaling in quick breaths into his heaving chest, ignoring Rex's taunts and the strange looks several students around him gave him.

Then the bell rang.

It sounds clichéd, but it rang true in this situation: Robbie was saved by the bell. All he had to do was get to his class quickly, and he'd be safe.

However, it was at this time luck turned against him with the swiftness that it had supported him at first. As soon he paced around the corner after descending the stairs, on the other side of the hallway where he had initially fled into, to the first floor, he felt strong hands (with sharp nails, he'd dimly noted) suddenly grab him with such power and strength that he was unable to dislodge from them, and begin dragging him toward a room nearby.

Robbie didn't have time to let out a surprised yell before he was tossed into a small room, hitting the wall before the door was slammed shut, plunging the room in total darkness for an instant before a dim light came on, illuminating the room Robbie now found himself in.

It was fairly a small, and familiar, room, chocked full of cleaning supplies haphazardly placed on rickety metal shelves, with brooms and mops lying against the wall as well a jacket hanging on a hook on the wall. It was the janitor's closet.

Feeling disoriented, and overcoming his shock, Robbie turned his head to see the person who had tossed him into the room and locked it. And his heart nearly stopped right there and then.

Jade.

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><p><strong>AN: *cowers like Gollum behind a flame shield* Don't hurt me! I was planning to have Jade confront Robbie in this chapter, but then I saw this golden opportunity for this story to have its first cliffhanger, so...**

**But I promise you! The confrontation will happen in the next chapter for sure! Rade simply is too precious to me not to happen in this story. My precious...my precious...**

**(Oh yeah, review as usual. Show your love. Or hate, or whatever - although I would prefer love. So...yeah. *hides once again*)**


	5. Fateful moment

**A/N: Ohh...so much hate, so much anger, and of such intensity that it makes me wince and cringe.**

**That means I've done a good job. :P**

**Anyways, here's the long-awaited confrontation chapter! I wonder how I was able to go four long chapters before getting to the good part. I guess I'm on a roll, lol.**

**At first, I wanted to hold off on this a bit, but I figure that since I've tortured you all enough, I'd treat you to the chapter that you've been waiting for so long, lol.**

**Enjoy this chapter, peeps, and I hope you like it. Because if you don't, I'll stop writing this story and leave it unfinished. *evil glare***

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Five: Fateful Moment<strong>_

Robbie felt frozen in place, as if he was ensconced in a thick block of freezing ice worthy of that of Pluto, if it was still considered a planet in the Solar system, than that of the coldest ice caps of Earth, as he gaped at the dark Goth girl standing in front of him, his heart now beating wildly as panic coursed through his paralyzed mind - and body - like electricity.

Jade loomed threateningly over him, seemingly casting a threatening shadow over his prone form, a dark scowl on her slightly-tanned face as her chest heaved slightly from all the running she has had to do, as of recently, because of him. She looked _truly_ peeved-off.

Robbie gulped, his throat becoming dry, as he looked into her blue orbs, which seemed to be burning with such an intensity that he nearly had to look away - and yet at the same time he couldn't. If looks could kill, Robbie knew, he would be _long_ dead already, a hundred times over.

Time seemed to slow down to a standstill as Robbie continued to look at Jade, this time holding Rex in front of him like a 'shield' - which wouldn't help at all, Robbie knew, given that Jade could simply chuck the puppet aside before tearing him apart with her own hands. Or strike a blow through Rex that would splinter him apart before administering the coup de grace upon the terrified ventriloquist, or many more others like that that he didn't want to delve into any further.

"Why?"

Jade's voice shattered the absolute silence inside the janitor's closet that had reigned over there for but a few nerve-wracking moments. Her voice was calm, steady, icy even - and that was what made it truly frightening. It indicated silently to him that something worse, _much_ worse, was in store for him. And only him.

Robbie knew precisely what she meant by "Why?", as in why he had kissed her. Robbie knew precisely the answer himself as well: he had done it because he simply couldn't hold in his hidden attractions to Jade anymore, and that it was a spur of the moment thing. But could he really tell Jade that? That he has had a crush on her for so long? More importantly, would the answer that he would have to provide be enough to satisfy Jade and dissuade her from murdering him?

Feeling himself shaking slightly, Robbie opened his mouth to speak - but no sound came out. It seems his throat had constricted so much that it had all but rendered his larynx inoperable. He closed his mouth before opening it, doing it several times, trying to force his larynx to produce sounds that would enable him to answer Jade's question.

"Uh...um...why what?" As soon the words blurt out of his paralyzed mouth, Robbie wanted to take these accursed words back. He hadn't intended to say that but, alas, his jumbled mind had pieced together something vastly different. But it was far too late: such words had already cruised through the air and were docking into Jade's ear. And the landing of these crafts clearly did not go well with Jade.

The scowl on Jade's face darkened, her glare intensifying as she gritted her teeth.

"Don't play _dumb_, Shapiro. You know perfectly what I mean." She growled in a low voice as she glowered at the scared boy in front of her, balling her hands up into fists at her sides. His eyes glancing over at her fists, Robbie gulped.

"Um...uh..." He began, but Rex beat him to it. The ever-loving dummy who always took risks, who knew how to live dangerously, and who had to find the perfect opportunity to crack jokes at a raging beast who was out for blood.

"Oh, is this about the kiss? You gonna do it or what? I mean, we know Robbie can't kiss for his life, so what cha say we do it and get it over with, baby?" Rex cracked, oblivious to the murderous look Jade was shooting at him. Robbie had a horrified expression on his face as he knew of how...suicidal Rex was being. He immediately covered up the dummy's mouth, as if that would take the fateful words back - but it was far too late. Rex's fate was sealed from the moment such words passed through his wooden lips.

"_Rex!_ J-Jade, he-" Robbie didn't get the chance to finish the sentence that he had barely begun - in a pitiful attempt to shield his best friend from Jade's wrath that would surely be brought upon the puppet with full force - when Jade, with a furious growl, strode over to him, snatched Rex roughly out of his hands and viciously tossed him off to the side of the cramped room. As Robbie watched in horror while his puppet best friend's body hit the wall with a sickeningly loud _THUD!_ and crumpled down into a heap on the floor, he felt Jade grab his shirt collar and roughly yank him up from the floor to her face-level.

"I know that was you, Shapiro. Don't fuck with me." Jade hissed as she pulled Robbie close to her, her intense eyes boring into his wide-open, shocked orbs. Their faces were mere centimeters apart. "I didn't spend most of fucking lunch-and chase you all over school-looking for you for nothing. Unless you got a death wish, you _WILL_ talk. Got it?" She growled before she then slammed him into the wall as if to stress her point, glaring at him as she continued to hold him.

As he was slammed against the wall, feeling slight pain shoot through him, Robbie got a sense of 'deja vu' come over him, as if...he had experienced that before or something to that effect.

Oh yeah, the Trina thing. Trina had treated him pretty roughly in the past when he had been pursuing her, especially that particularly memory of her barging into one of his classes, while the teacher was right in the middle of giving a lecture. In addition to loudly berating him, Trina had grasped his shirt and pulled him close to her in a threatening way-similar to what Jade was doing to him right now-forcing him to disclose his new address when he'd told her that he moved. Midst the teacher's protests and the stunned stares of students around Robbie, Trina had swept his desk into the floor with a resounding thud before she stormed out of the classroom.

That was a very humiliating day he had ever endure at that time, one that he would never live it down. Thank God he had gotten over her-even if she was a way for him to try to get over his feelings for Jade. Too bad he had to have strong feelings for Jade now.

_Ehm_, back to the matter at hand.

Feeling fear course through him-and feeling Jade's breath gently waft into his face-Robbie could do little but nod dumbly. However, the machinery of his mind began to rotate slowly at the 'revelation' that Jade had made.

_Jade was looking for him during lunch?_

Before he could mull over this more, he felt Jade's grasp on his collar tighten considerably, bringing up the real possibility of demise by strangulation.

"I'll ask the question again. Why did you do it? Why did you kiss me at Sikowitz's place?" Jade whispered, voicing the question that had been on her mind over the weekend, and this day in particular. Her voice was slightly 'softer', but still had a very sharp edge to it.

This was it.

The beckoning moment.

The fateful moment that he had sought, and tried, so hard to avoid but still couldn't avoid.

The moment he would spill out his guts regarding the reason why he kissed her-or otherwise risk having it spilled out anyways, courtesy of Jade.

Robbie took in a shaky breath as he tried to calm his wildly-beating heart, the extremely close proximity of Jade's face not helping the matter one bit. At that moment, the cowardly ventriloquist felt a burst of...courage slowly well up inside of him before going through him equally as slow. Perhaps he would get the metaphoric Medal of Honor and Purple Heart, after all...

"Jade..." Robbie began, his voice stuttering a bit. "I-I kissed you...because...because..."

He could do it. He could tell her. For his sake. And Jade's, too.

He had to. Or she could kill him, simple as that. There was no way to get out of the prison cell that was the janitor's closet from where he was standing as of right now. To do that successfully, he would have to wrest himself out of Jade's tight grip on him, make his way to the locked door, unlock it, and he would be free.

Too bad that was _far_ easier said than done, unfortunately.

"Because...?" Jade prodded, feeling her anger and frustration slowly simmer down, and her curiosity pique up, as she silently urged him to continue, wanting so bad to know why. Somehow...for some reason she got this feeling that she knew what he was going to say next. She didn't know why.

As his mouth remained slightly ajar, shaking slightly, Robbie looked into Jade's eyes, surprised to see a wide array of emotions sparkle in her eyes. Anger, frustration, exasperation, curiosity...and something other. He couldn't decipher it.

Taking in a large breath, Robbie knew he had to do this now, before the feeling of courage that were currently welling up inside him petered out, and he faltered once again-and incur Jade's fiery wrath.

"...because...I like you!"

There. He said it. It was out in the open. And that wasn't all.

As Jade's eyes widened a bit in shock, her grip on his shirt collar slacking a bit, Robbie found that he wouldn't stop right there. It was as if once he had started, he couldn't stop until he had, well, confessed everything else.

"You...like me?" Jade breathed out, feeling various emotions bubbled up inside her. Robbie nodded nervously.

"...since when?" Jade asked quietly, her mind still blown-away from Robbie's surprising, and yet not-so-unexpected, confession. The sensation was similiar to already knowing the answer - or at least strongly suspecting it - and still being overcome by shock when it was finally revealed.

"Ever since the day I first saw you."

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><p><em><strong>FLASHBACK<strong>_

Robbie felt absolutely lost and confused as he slowly walked through the hallways of Hollywood Arts, clutching a slip of paper inside his right hand while his other hand clutched his best friend, Rex, as he marveled at the colored lockers that surrounded him, every and each one decorated differently and uniquely. All of which made him feel...uninspired, uncreative, inadequate, on the inside.

Printed on the slip of paper was the number of his locker and its combination number.

This was his first day at Hollywood Arts, and so far it was going...not well as he might have hoped. No one at his new school ever bothered to help the awkward, shy nerdy freshman who sported around a creepy puppet; indeed, the very first person he had approached was a tall, fairly built junior who laughed in his face, along with his clique of friends, first before dumping him into a trashcan.

Rex had been cracking up in laughter after that.

As he brushed the dirt off his now-stained shirt, and grimaced at the revolting smell that emanated a bit from him, Robbie sighed as he continued on where he was heading where he had been doing. Finally finding a school official, a middle-aged woman who looked like either a teacher or a vice-principal, Robbie had went over to her-only to receive advice that was as helpful as the jerk who had dumped him in the trash can. Not only did she scrunch her nose, but she all but grunted a reply and pointed in a vague northerly direction before scurrying around, leaving Robbie still in the dark about where his locker was located.

Glancing at the slip of paper, it said:

**SOUTH HALLWAY C - LOCKER NO. 21**

Just where was South Hallway C? Robbie wondered to himself as he glanced both sides of the crowded hallway he was in. They sure needed to put up some signs or something.

Sighing, he'd have to wing it or something. He hoped to find his locker soon before he was late to his first class on the first day of school. Robbie sighed again as he continued to walk through the hallways, scanning for a bare locker in the vast sea of creatively-decorated lockers.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, after much blood, toil, tears, and sweat, he finally found one, one which stood next to one who was, interestingly, decorated with variety of scissors in differing sizes and colors. Heaving a sigh of relief, Robbie proceeded to turn the rotating dial on the combination lock installed in the locker to correspond with the combination number.

Having input the numbers, Robbie proceed to pull on it-only to find it still closed tight. Apparently it had jammed or something. Blinking, he looked at the slip. Perhaps he had put it wrong or something? Better try again...

Before he would turn the combination once again, he saw someone approach from the corner of his eyes and turned his head to look at the person.

And felt his breath get taken away, feeling his throat constrict and heart begin to beat faster. The person he was staring was the most _beautiful_ girl he had ever seen in his life. Her brown hair, which appeared to have colored streaks, cascaded down her face like a brown waterfall, of which seemed to bring about her blue eyes. Her lips looked soft and pouty, and she had really great figures encased in a black, Goth-style clothing resembling a tight-fitting tank top topped with equally-tight jacket, coupled with tight-fitting jeans.

As the girl approached her locker, which turned out to be the scissor-covered one right next to his, Robbie felt a familiar feeling course through him, one that usually piped up when he was around girls he was infatuated with. Yeah, his first day at Hollywood Arts, and already he had a crush on a girl that he hadn't even met.

"Um, who are you looking at?"

Robbie blinked as he saw the girl look at him weirdly, and a bit disgustingly, feeling his cheek inflame with embarrassment. "O-oh, sorry..." Robbie muttered shyly as he turned back to his locker and focused on inputting the combination, of which he managed to open his locker this time.

As he opened his backpack and began putting some textbooks out of it to put in his locker, Robbie glanced at the girl, who was still at her locker. Turning to her, Robbie took in a breath in an attempt to garner up courage to introduce himself to the girl when-

"Hey babe. Say, have I seen you around here? Cause you look a lot like my next girlfriend."

What. The. Hell?

Robbie turned to Rex with a mortified expression on his face, as the girl turned to him with a weirded-out, annoyed expression on her face.

"What did you say?"

"Um...uh...don't mind Rex here," Robbie stammered as he placed a hand on the dummy's mouth. "Um...I'm Robbie. Nice to, uh, meet you."

The girl stared at him blankly for a moment before rolling her eyes and turning to her locker and slammed it shut. Robbie felt...crushed. Thanks to Rex, Robbie had screwed up any chances, as remote it was, he might have had with the girl.

"I'm Jade." The girl, now known as Jade, said simply as she turned around and walked away, leaving Robbie to look at her departing figure.

_**FLASHBACK END**_

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><p>Robbie remembered feeling a tiny ray of hope shine upon him as he thought about, perhaps, he might have a chance with Jade, to have a good friendship and perhaps moving on to something...<em>more<em>.

That was before he felt his heart being utterly crushed in a metaphoric vise when later on in the day he saw a tall, handsome long-haired boy approach Jade in the cafeteria, wrap an arm around her and kiss her right on the lips. _She already had a boyfriend._

And that wasn't mentioning that his hopes for a good friendship with Jade had went...somewhat unrealized as the two of them didn't hang out much at first and eventually, over the next three years, developed something of a 'frenemyship.'

Robbie blinked back to the present as he saw Jade's wide-eyed face still fairly close to his before he heaved out a sigh and continued on:

"Yes, I've liked you since that day. I don't know why, but I just do." Robbie answered Jade's unasked question. "I kissed you that day because I had a crush on you for so long, and that I just couldn't hold it in that day. It was like something snapped inside me..." Robbie knew he was babbling on a bit now, but he couldn't help it. He felt like he had to provide all the answers now before he was struck down for once and for all.

Jade seemed to come out of her daze, at least temporarily, as her face contorted into a slight scowl. "I don't believe you. If you had this crush on me for so long as you claim, you shouldn't have been pursuing Trina and Cat!" She growled, for some reason feeling a _particular_ emotion that was familiar to her, one that popped up whenever she saw Beck talking to other girls, particularly..._Vega_, jolt through her.

"Why do you think I did that?" Robbie retorted, glaring at her but then he sighed and slumped his shoulders. "The reason I pursued them was, well, because I thought they would get my mind off you and help me overcome my crush on you. It worked...until last Friday." He groaned a bit at the memory of that day.

"What I mean is that...I know I shouldn't be having this crush on you, this was exactly what led to this predicament. But still...I couldn't help it...I mean, you have Beck, and I know you don't like me much but...", Robbie rambled on, his heart still pounding, but not as hard as earlier.

But Jade was only half-listening at this point now, the shock of Robbie's revelation still convulsing through her, but her mind now carefully digesting Robbie's words. Her initial suspicions earlier had finally been confirmed to be true, but she couldn't decipher the feelings that were going through her at this moment, feeling them churn and percolate inside of her before feeling something of a..._warm_ sensation overcome her. Someone liked her, as in having a crush on her. Someone actually liked, _liked_, her.

Usually, in the past, people had always been afraid of her. The emotions she usually stirred up inside them was fear and intimidation, and she could see that on the face of students when they passed by her (or more like stood aside and let her - and Beck - pass by). Heck, even Beck himself had been a bit intimidated when he had garnered the courage to ask her out nearly three years before. And even after that, he had acted sort of...cautious, like he had been walking on eggshells around her, as if he was afraid to say the wrong thing and risk provoking her. That was, _of course_, before he steadily grew comfortable around her such to an extent that he deliberately teased her to rile her up from time to time.

But not this particular boy. The geeky, bespectacled boy who she had made fun of on a daily basis, and who she had thought of as the most annoying person ever to walk the earth. Until now.

For some reason, she felt the corners of her lips curl up slightly as she stared at the boy in front of her.

Robbie felt like his mouth, and larynx, was on autopilot as he couldn't seem to get himself to stop talking, to dam in the words that were currently flooding out of his mouth. He was still yapping about his feelings, and telling her that he was going to apologize for what he did before she killed him, dimly surveying Jade's shocked face in front of him.

Yep. This was it, he was definitely going to get it for sure. She was now going to kill him for real, and what place other than the janitor's closet was perfect for what she was surely going to do next?

However, so engrossed in his thoughts, Robbie certainly didn't anticipate, much less expect, what Jade actually did next.

Not realizing Jade's grip on his shirt had tightened once again, not feeling himself being pulled down, not noticing - due to the very close proximity of her face to his - her face getting closer to his, Robbie found himself instantly silenced when a soft pair of lips slammed into his with such a force, such an intensity, that nearly made his knees buckle in shock.

Jade West was kissing him.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, here it is.**

**That was the confrontation.**

**I'm sorry it sucked, that I disappointed you guys. I know, I make myself want to cry too. I guess I'll quit. It was nice writing for you guys, so I bid you farewell. Bye.**

**lol :P**

**(Oh, and by the way, don't forget to review!)**


	6. Kiss me again

**A/N: Well, well, what do we have here guys? Another chapter from I, GallaudetLurker, or as Zen calls me, GL!**

**I know, I know. Awesome, huh? Yet another chapter to a Rade story, another chapter that will continue on where the last chapter left off. Another chapter where you get to enjoy the delicious Rade kisses that you all love.**

**Enjoy this chapter, guys and gals. I hope you like.**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Six: Kiss me again<strong>_

Robbie found himself frozen on the spot once again, this time not out of sheer fright as last time, but in utmost shock as Jade's petite lips mushed over his frozen ones, her small and yet strong hands grasping his shirt tightly, keeping him close to her, her ample breasts pressing up against his.

On top of that, his lips felt like they were buzzing as jolts of electricity coursed through them, emanating from Jade's pouty lips and flowing into his body, giving off the same warm, comforting sensation that had swept over him the first time he had kissed her at Sikowitz's house. In short, it was exactly like his first kiss with her, only this time it was even more _amazing_ - and that wasn't mentioning the fact Jade had initiated the kiss this time, instead of the other way around, and was kissing him with such a vigor and passion that he found he couldn't think of anything other than what he was feeling right now.

Slowly, Robbie closed his eyes and began to return the kiss, his frozen lips thawing as it began to move along with Jade's before he tentatively placed his hands on her petite waist before slowly wrapping them around and pulling her closer. She responded by snaking her hands from his shirt collar to around his neck, her fingers entwining into his thick curls as she deepened the kiss.

As his lips meshed with hers, growing more urgent and passionate with every passing second, Robbie swore he could see fireworks behind his closed eyelids as the electric current passing through him grew stronger. Before his blown mind could dimly delve on such sensations any further, Robbie felt something..._wet_ begin to probe his lips urgency, as if begging for entrance.

Instantly, he knew.

As soon as Robbie parted his lips, he felt Jade's hot tongue dart into his mouth, meeting his tongue and wrestling around with it for dominance, control. Never had he felt such passion before in his life as the battle inside his mouth was turning out, and what surprised him was that his tongue seemed to take a life of its own, rolling around with Jade's tongue with such an intensity, making him feeling like...like...an expert, like he knew exactly what to do and how to go with it, despite the obvious fact that he had never ever kissed a girl in such a deep way before in his life.

And what surprised him, if it was possible in this inebriated state, was that he was _actually_ winning the tongue duel to the death. Perhaps there was another side to him that he didn't know until now?

Robbie didn't know how much time had passed by, but midst the escalating heat that were growing rapidly between the two of him, a sensation slowly bubbled up inside his chest, indicating in urgent tones that his lungs desperately needed fresh air. This was a request that he had to reluctantly comply with.

Breaking away from Jade's lips with a loud smack, Robbie panted slightly as he looked at Jade's face, centimeters from his, as he absentmindedly licked his lips, tasting her lip-gloss. Jade was panting heavily, her chest rising and falling as she took in breaths to fill up her lungs. Her lips were now swollen as they were parted slightly, her eyes opening into a half-lidded stare as she looked up at him.

"...W-wow..." Jade breathed out, her breath mingling with that of Robbie's as she continued to stare at him, a slightly-dazed look in her blue orbs that had encapsulated his heart in the first place, her lips curving up in a slight smile.

"Wow...you sure y-you never made out with girls before, Robbie? Because, for a nerd, you are an...an..._amazing_ kisser." Jade breathed out, remembering Robbie telling her in a conversation over a year earlier that he had never kissed a girl, much less made out with one, before. Now, she was the first girl that Robbie had kissed, and heavily made out, with. And she felt...honored to be awarded with this distinction.

Well, actually he had kissed two girls before - with Vega's older, bitchy sister and with Cat - but they were only stage kisses, alas, not real ones. And neither were they fully-blown make-outs. So, in the true sense, Jade was the first girl Robbie had truly kissed, with real emotions, and the very first girl he had ever made out with. It was that this moment Jade realized something: she had called Robbie by his first name for the first time (well, not exactly, but that was very rare; she couldn't remember the last time she had addressed Robbie by his first name), whereas she usually called him 'nerd', 'geek', 'puppet boy', 'Shapiro', or a variety of other hurtful nicknames therein.

And it was certainly true that Robbie was an amazing kisser, even better - Jade had to admit it to herself - than Beck. Whereas Beck was merely good at it - she felt tiny sparks every time they kissed, but only that - Robbie _blew_ him right out of the water when it came to kissing; every time her lips came into contact with his, she felt strong sparks come between them, she felt her breath get taken away, she felt her toes curl up as a unexplained sensation swept all over her body, leaving a tingling feeling in its wake, and she swore she could see fireworks erupt behind her closed eyelids.

As he panted for breath, looking at Jade, Robbie mustered a small smile as he glanced down at his arms around her waist and proceeded to slowly remove them. He'd swore that he heard Jade..._whimper_ as if in protest when his arms unwrapped from her body.

"Y-yes, I'm sure..." Robbie whispered, his voice shaky, as Jade slowly removed her arms from around his neck, her hands trailing down his arms the same way she had done on that fateful day, reaching and squeezing his hands for a moment before she let go and took a small step back. As he looked on at her, Robbie was suddenly struck with realization, a particularly strong jolt going through him, his brain neurons suddenly scrambling into high activity as his eyes began to widen.

"Oh...oh...man... oh shit...I...Beck...you're dating Beck!" Robbie stuttered out a bit as a horrified expression slowly etched itself on his pale, bespectacled face. Seeing Jade raise an eyebrow as if to say 'yeah? What's your point?', Robbie continued on: "You...we...we can't do this, that! It'd be che-it wouldn't be fair to Beck." Jade looked on at him blankly before her eyes darkened and a dark glare appeared on her face.

"Like you didn't think of that before you decided to press your lips on mine last Friday, when I was dating Beck." She snapped at him, taking a step forward once again. "Yeah, I'm a _cheater_, you can say that. Of course it wouldn't be fair to poor Beck, to anyone else, especially me! Given that you thought about this _thoughtfully_ before you essentially made me cheat on Beck!" She spat out the last part with heavy sarcasm, which made Robbie wince a bit. Seeing this, Jade took a breath before she sighed heavily, feeling the brief anger and indignation that had been building up inside her dissipate.

"It doesn't matter." Jade whispered as she scanned around the room, her eyes resting on the still form of Rex lying on the floor before setting her sight back on the ventriloquist in front of her. "It doesn't matter anyways, so you don't have to worry about this not being fair to Beck. It's not like I'm going to make you my personal plaything and heavily make out with you in the closet in private whenever I want, with Beck being in the dark about it."

Robbie, despite himself, felt a blush creep up on his cheeks at the implications of the last part of Jade's statement as he looked at the Goth girl standing in front of him. Silence prevailed in the closet once again as Robbie mulled over Jade's statement, analyzing her words and deciphering possible meaning behind them. As he thought some more about it, Robbie's eyes began to widen once again as realization slowly set into the innards of his mind.

"You and Beck...you two broke up." He spoke, making more of a statement of fact than asking a question. For some reason, his heart felt like it..._lightened_ up a bit at this realization, although he wasn't supposed to feel like that.

Jade remained silent for a moment, her hands fidgeting a bit as she bit her lips a bit, looking a bit...sad, distressed, sorrowful. Finally, she nodded. Robbie blinked some more as he surveyed her.

"W-when?"

Jade let out a wistful sigh. "Last weekend. Last Saturday."

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><p><em><strong>FLASHBACK<strong>_

"How are you feeling?"

It was a Saturday night, and Jade was sitting on her boyfriend's bed in his RV, her mind still up in the clouds that were precipitated by Robbie's unexpected kiss the day before.

Her right hand, encased in a white bandage, was still stinging fairly bad, but was certainly better than when she had first laid her hand on the red-hot tray. The doctor had given her treatment for second-degree burns, prescribing an over-the-counter pain reliever like Aleve to help alleviate the pain, and suggested that she place her burned hand under cool (not cold) running water.

Placing a small smile on her face, Jade turned to Beck, who had a concerned expression on her face as he sat on a chair near her, a bowl of cool water near him. "I'm doing ok. Well, not my hand here, but other than that, I'm doing okay." Jade said distractedly, her mind on both her burned hand and Robbie's kiss.

"Good to hear that." Beck said, smiling. His eyes, however, indicated that he had something to say.

Silence reigned over in the RV once again, as Jade watched Beck get up from his chair, dimly acknowledging his statement that he would go get something from his parents' house and that he would get back in a bit. As Beck stepped out of the RV, the door clattering shut behind him, Jade continued to look at her bandaged hand cradled in her other hand, she thought once more about the kiss, about the way she felt when Robbie's lips had touched hers. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget the kiss, and she also found that her mind had slowly but steadily turning over to her relationship with Beck.

Ever since she had gotten back with Beck with Tori's help, especially after the Rottweiler that she had gotten for him as a 'get-back-together' present had mauled his father who had been sleeping in the RV, Jade had found that the renewed relationship had been losing a certain...luster. It didn't feel as...passionate as it had been the first time they got together, and their kisses, cuddles, and hugs - as good as they were - didn't really arouse, or otherwise induce, as much feelings inside her as they used to be - and should be. She also found that her 'possessiveness', while still fairly strong and popping up fairly frequently whenever Beck talked with other pretty girls, wasn't as strong or as deep as it had once been.

It was as if the first round was truly wonderful, and the second round wasn't...as great as before, similar to the way a sequel of a high-grossing film was not as successful due to lack of the elements that had made the first movie a wild success in the first place. It seemed that Jade's relationship with Beck was now being afflicted with something known as 'sequel syndrome', whereas their 'second' relationship had been less...exciting, less magical than their 'first' one had been. It was as if their relationship had begun to run out of steam, and was now simply chugging on, indeed forcing itself to go on, for the sake of remaining together.

One indicator of their changing relationship was that she and Beck had begun..._drifting_ apart. Jade had found herself spending more time with Tori and Cat, and even with Andre and Robbie himself, than she was with Beck. Heck, Beck didn't even go to her original play, **Well Wishes**, opting instead to go with Andre to keep Ms. Lee, the wacky Chinese woman who nearly ruined her play, distracted in her restaurant so she wouldn't have to see the 'altered' play. This was naming only a few, of course.

Jade, for particular, remembered that when Robbie had remarked "Is it splitsville for Beck and Jade?" in one of his stupid Robarazzi shows, although she was certainly irked that Robbie would even suggest that, she found herself wondering the same thing at first before she banished that..._forbidden_ thought from her mind.

Such thought would pop up inside her mind from time to time, though.

Given that her relationship with Beck had been stagnating for some time now, Jade had wondered of whether her feelings toward Beck had shifted as well. Surely, she loved him very much, but did she love him that way anymore? This was what had been on her mind for some time now, even before the fateful sleepover, one such thought that she had a difficult time figuring out, much less talking with Beck about it. Was Beck and her well on the way to purchasing a one-way ticket to "Splitsville"? Sure, she knew she should try to talk about it with Beck, but somewhere in her heart and mind, she knew it wouldn't resolve anything. It seemed that her feelings toward Beck had seemingly waned to a point that it would be pointless to keep continuing this. She had heard of couples whose romance and love had been drained away, but yet continued on for some sake, and she didn't want that to happen to her and Beck.

So, she would have to -

Jade blinked out of her thoughts as she heard the door to the RV open. Turning her head, she saw Beck come in, flashing her a smile. She returned the smile watching him take his seat once again.

"Found what I was looking for," Beck stated simple as he held up the bottle of Aleve in his hand before setting it on the table next to him.

Jade nodded slowly. "Thanks." She said simply as the RV became filled with silence once again. Glancing at Beck, she found him looking back, noticing something flicker in his eyes. Before she knew it, she opened her mouth.

"Beck..."

"Jade..."

Jade and Beck looked at each other, having said their names at the same time, for a moment before they broke out in chuckles.

"Um...you go first." Beck said, gesturing at her with his hand. Jade shook her head. "No, you go first."

"Girls first." Jade rolled her eyes at Beck's weak attempt at chivalry. She hated that kind of thing. "You go first. I insist." She stressed the last part of her statement with a light threatening tone.

"Okay, um." Beck took a breath as he clasped his hands together, leaning forward in his chair, looking like he was thinking of what to say - or more like internally debating with himself of how to put what he was going to say in the way he wanted it to go. "How do I put it...?" Jade could hear Beck mutter to himself, and began to wonder what he was going to say. She then felt this...stirring inside of her, getting a particular feeling inside her guts that she somehow knew what Beck was going to say.

"Jade...have you had this feeling that this relationship hadn't been going anywhere as of lately?" Jade blinked at the question, but before she could open her mouth to reply, Beck continued on:

"What I mean is that...um...I haven't been feeling as strongly toward you as I used to." Beck said before he sighed. "Why is this hard?" He muttered under his breath as he ran a hand through his long hair. "Jade, what I'm trying to say is that..."

"You want to break up." Jade said quietly.

Beck remained silent as he looked at her for a long moment before heaving out a sigh and nodding, a sad, pensive, and slightly apprehensive expression on his face.. Although her feelings toward Beck had dwindled for some time now, and she had suspected what Beck was probably going to say, it didn't stop the pangs of hurt from piercing her heart the way they were doing at that moment. Breakups weren't exactly the easiest aspect to do, not even when she had broken up with Beck the first time in anger (well, they certainly could be easier, but it was hard to avoid the inevitable feelings of hurt that occurred when one had broken up with someone else, especially when they had been going out with for a long time).

"Jade...I know this might be the wron-" Beck started to speak, but Jade beat him to it.

"Beck, I know what you're trying to say. You want us to break up because your feelings toward me have changed." Jade essentially summarized what had been on Beck's mind. "I have to say, I understand how you feel, because...I've been feeling the same." Beck's eyebrows rose at that.

"How long?"

Jade shrugged. "Probably as long as you. And yes, this was probably the wrong moment to break up, but I guess that can't be helped." Jade said in a slightly sarcastic tone, the corners of her lips curving up in a tiny smile, as she glanced at her bandaged hand.

Beck couldn't help but chuckle a bit. The RV was filled with silence once again, before Beck spoke up. "So...we can still be friends?" He inquired, not sure of what to actually say next. Jade nodded after a moment. "Yes, we can...on one condition. Nobody knows about this, at least not for a while."

Beck nodded in agreement, a small smile on his face. "Agreed."

With that, Jade felt herself come under assault by different emotions from all sides at the same time. She felt a great weight get lifted off her chest, and yet she felt like she wanted to cry as a particularly strong emotion well up inside her, particularly the pangs of hurt that were embedded deep inside her heart - and that were only going in deeper. And at the same time, she felt like she wanted to celebrate her newly-found freedom, to feel what it was like to be able to date anyone she wanted, including..._him_.

The silence in the RV was, to put it _lightly_, awkward.

_**FLASHBACK END**_

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><p>Robbie gaped at Jade in shock, his lips slightly open. Jade and Bade broke up? Mutually? Peacefully? He still couldn't wrap the thought of Jade and Beck, who had been together for so long, even longer than he had personally known Jade, not...being together anymore.<p>

"Wow..." He stuttered, his throat feeling constricted. Jade nodded silently, biting her lips a bit.

As his blown-out mind mulled over what Jade had so recently revealed to him about that day - thus making him the first person she had ever told about the break-up in a few days - Robbie felt the blow of realization slam into his chest, nearly throwing him off-balance, as he thought about the fact the breakup occurred on a _Saturday_, the day after he had made his fateful decision to kiss Jade out of the blue at Sikowitz's place. The day after the sleepover.

Almost immediately, a new emotion - exactly the same that he had experienced that same morning - came flooding into him, saturating him all over with it and weighing him down: guilt. What if...what if...he was responsible for their break-up? What if, by pressing his lips against Jade's, he had caused them to break up? Sure, it had been peaceful and mutual, but still...

"J-Jade...did it have anything to do w-with the...kiss?" Robbie recovered the ability to speak, feeling his heart heavy as guilt coursed through him, a grieved expression on his face.

Jade shook her head, her lips curving up a little as she looked at him.

"No, no...it had nothing to do with the kiss. Well, it did sort of, but that's not the main reason why Beck and I broke up. It has been going on since we got back together after we broke up the first time." Her lips then curved up further into a smirk. "Although your hot lips did ignite the spark that set off the explosion that blew the Bade relationship up."

Robbie nodded silently, feeling the guilt abate somewhat as he surveyed her, not knowing what to say next. He then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Bade?"

Jade rolled her eyes as she then chuckled a bit. "It's like...my and Beck's name combined, a portmanteau of 'Beck' and 'Jade', if you get what I mean. That's, like, a shipping that some random authors are gonna write about on a fanfiction site if our lives were a Nickelodeon show. I'm sure it would be popular." She said, rolling her eyes again.

Robbie slowly nodded his head once again in realization. "Oh...I see." He said simply before he continued on, albeit not in the way he expected: "Y'know, if people wrote about our relationship, I'd bet they would call it...Rade, or something."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Now you're thinking of us in a relationship?" She teased lightly, smirking at the sight of Robbie stuttering a bit as his cheeks flushed red.

"N-no, I'm just saying that...you know what I mean...Bade rhymes with Rade-" He was silenced when Jade took a step toward him, putting a finger on his lips. She then pushed him into the wall - gently this time - leaning toward him so their noses were nearly touching each other, their breaths mingling with each other once again.

"I know what you mean, Robbie." Jade whispered as she looked into his brown orbs, smirking, her voice sending chills down Robbie's spine.

Robbie remained silent as he looked into Jade's eyes, seeing various emotions skit in them. The old saying that one's eyes being the window of one's soul was certainly correct; Robbie was fairly sure he could discern Jade's feelings in her eyes. He felt like…Zen at this moment. "So..." He began, his voice a bit unsure. "...what do we do about all this?"

Jade's response was to put her arms around his neck. "One thing we can do." She said as she smirked.

"Kiss me again." With that, she pulled him down into a deep kiss.

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><p><strong>AN: Heeeeere it is! The conclusion of this chapter – and this story!**

**Nah, kidding. Unless you actually want me to end this story right there and then.**

**This chapter's for you, Zen! Hope you enjoy the hot and steamy Rade kisses. lol**

**I think I did a decent job on this chapter, especially the breakup part. I'm still not good at writing breakups, but I hope I did ok. Once again, hope you liked. ****Hm…perhaps I could write a Rade lemon scene in the next chapter? I don't know, you tell me. Lol.**

**As usual, review! I can't tell you how much happy I get when I get a review notification via mail on my iPhone. So…review, review, and um, review! Send your love! :D**


	7. What had he done now?

**A/N: Whoo! Finally! Here's the long-awaited Chapter 7 of 'Fateful Decisions'! After watching a couple of Victorious episodes, and reading Zen's newest update for '20 Love Stories of Us', I received a boost of inspiration and managed to finish this chapter. Thanks, Zen! **

**Hope you like, everyone.**

**I think I might make the next chapter based on the episode 'Beginning on your knees', and subsequent chapters might be based on subsequent episodes. I'll think about that, it depends on reviews, tho.**

**Read on, peeps, and enjoy.**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Seven: What had he done now?<strong>_

"Why did you kiss Jade?"

Robbie sighed softly as he found himself in the cluttered janitor closet once again, clutching Rex in his slightly-trembling hands. This time, he was facing not the dark, yet seductive, Goth girl who had given him quite the literal tongue-thrashing in this very same cluttered room twenty-four hours earlier, but the rest of his friends. Tori, Andre, Cat, and Beck were standing in front of him, patiently looking at him for an answer.

The tiny janitor's closet had never been so _crowded_ as it was at this moment.

While he was walking toward his locker, having just arrived at Hollywood Arts and feeling a bit nervous about the prospects of facing his friends, especially after he had given them quite the run of their lives yesterday - and feeling particularly shy about seeing Jade again, after all what had been done - he found to his surprise Tori, Andre, Beck, and Cat waiting for him at his locker in the increasingly crowded hallway. Jade was nowhere to be seen, though. Upon seeing them, Robbie had this initial urge to turn around and run, but Beck and Andre preempted him by grabbing him, and 'escorting' him toward the janitor's closet, Beck clapping him on the shoulder and telling him that "we got to talk about this, man" in a neutral, yet friendly, tone.

Robbie swallowed. Could he tell them? Judging from the looks his friends were giving him, yeah, he would have to tell them. Given what he had recently done last Friday, and validated by his 'session' with Jade the day before, Robbie couldn't keep on dodging them forever, and so he would have to tell them, and basically confess his feelings for Jade.

He sure as heck was not going to tell them about what had happened with Jade in this very room, though.

"Um...uh..." Robbie opened his mouth, trying to think of how to put the answer in a way that would satisfy his friends. At that moment, deja vu coursed through him for the second time as Robbie's mind took him back in time to yesterday, when he had struggled to find ways to confess to Jade. Whereas he had received a surprising, and soul-searing, kiss from Jade that time, Robbie wasn't sure of how his friends would react to what he would tell them. He hoped they would understand.

He _hoped_.

"Well?" Tori inquired, a bit of an impatient tone in her voice. Andre nodded as he had his arms crossed, while Beck looked at him with his usual cool expression on his face. However, he noticed that Cat was looking on at him with an expression on her face that he somehow couldn't decipher. She looked like she was... jealous, or something like that. He was never good at reading facial expressions. Or body language. And much less on girls.

Robbie took an intake of breath in an attempt to calm his nerves, which were tingling beneath his muscles, tendons, ligaments, and veins through his body, particularly his arms and legs.

"Um...I kissed Jade because...because..." He began, his voice getting dry, and his throat getting constricted. He paused to take a breath, praying to God to give him courage and strength to perform what he was going to do. Leveling a gaze at his friends, Robbie continued.

"I kissed Jade because...I like her."

'Gosh, that was the best you could come up with? You're lame, Robbie.' A voice that sounded eerily like Rex's sounded from the back of his head.

"Like her? You mean, you like Jade? As in like, _like_, her?" Andre asked, a confused look on his face. Beck's eyebrows were raised, although his eyes seemed to indicate that he had...somehow knew of this all along, while Tori was looking on at him with piqued interest, a hint of a smile on her face. Cat, however, confused him the most. As he glanced over at her, Cat had a..._mad, pained, disappointed_ expression (something like that) on her face. Robbie didn't understand why, but before he could delve further into it, before he would elaborate any further on Andre's question, Rex beat him to it.

"Yeah, freak boy here has a huge crush on Jade, or so as he tells me." The dummy chirped in a cheerful tone that set off alarm bells inside Robbie. Given his long friendship with Rex, Robbie had somehow knew what Rex was probably going to say next (and that was never a good thing) and moved to clamp a hand over Rex's mouth.

However, it was _far_ too late. He was too slow, _much too slow_.

"That's why he made out with her yesterday, in this very closet." Rex finished, a triumphant tone in his wooden voice. Gasps were heard around the cramped room that bounced off the walls, Cat's probably being the loudest, as a horrified Robbie slammed his hand over Rex's lips.

"D-don't listen to h-him!" Robbie stuttered out, his heart hammering hard and his stomach twisting and churning around in his guts. He had never wanted to kill Rex - effectively himself - so much, and so bad, as he did at this moment. "Rex likes to make up stuf-"

"You _made out_ with Jade?" Tori asked incredulously, clearly not believing Rex's revelation that her worst rival and her geeky friend made out in a closet. Andre's eyes were wide with surprise, while Beck's eyebrows were raised even higher, a surprised expression now etched in his face. However, Cat looked like she was about to cry, her eyes becoming a bit watery as she tugged at the ends of her magenta hair.

"Um, uh...no, I d-didn't. Rex was just k-kidding about that, I swear!" Robbie protested, dimly aware that he was stammering, a sure telltale sign that he was lying. Ever since he was firstly conceived into this world, Robbie had always been an atrocious liar, one of the worst kind. Wanting to divert attention from the shocking revelation that his dummy best friend had thoughtfully and considerably chosen to reveal at the perfect time, Robbie focused on Andre's earlier question.

"I do like her. Yeah, I really, really like her. I have for some time." Robbie admitted, feeling he weight upon his heart and chest lighten up as if the secret-crush-on-Jade anvil had been lifted off from it by an invisible hand, although he was still worried about how Beck might say about it. Andre and Beck still looked surprised.

"Whoa..." Andre breathed out as he continued to gape at Robbie, Beck nodding silently.

Tori sighed at Robbie's obvious evasion of her question, and decided to amuse Robbie for the time being. "How long?" She inquired, crossing her arms. Robbie remained silent for a moment.

"Ever since the first day of Hollywood Arts." He replied, looking at his friends as he fidgeted a bit with Rex.

"You've had a crush on her for over two years?" Andre asked, and Robbie nodded his head in confirmation. "And you made us chase you around because of that?" Tori chuckled a bit at Andre's statement.

"Even while I was dating Jade?" Beck spoke up next, already knowing the answer, judging from what Jade had told him at the RV after they broke up. Robbie sighed as he leveled his gaze at his tall, long-haired friend.

"Yes." He said simply before he continued on. "Look, I-I shouldn't have done that. I mean, you're dating Jade, and I basically made her cheat on you. It was terrible for me to do that, but it-it just happened, I couldn't control myself, I'm sorry about that, I'm sorr-" He was interrupted when Beck held up a hand, a slight amused smile on his face. He didn't look mad or anything, and that surprised Robbie.

"Chill, man." Beck said as he looked at Robbie. "Don't worry about it, I understand. Although I do have to admit the kiss certainly surprised me." He glanced around at his friends. "Well, all of us, actually. But I'm not mad. No, really. I'm not like all these jealous boyfriends who beat up on people for kissing their girlfriends, or anything. If you remember, my relationship with Jade wasn't your typical normal one." Beck joked to try to lighten up the mood a bit.

It worked, for slight chuckles permeated the tiny closet. Robbie, for his part, felt truly relieved, feeling the other anvil get taken off his chest. He felt his heartbeat return to its normal pace as a warm, comforting sensation sweep through him, expunging any bit of fear, panic, and nervousness from his body.

"Wha? We're not gonna see some smackdown on Robbie?" Rex spoke up in a whining tone. "C'mon, I wanted to see that!" Tori and Andre shot him weirded-out looks while Robbie glared at his best friend. Beck chuckled a bit, while Cat was nowhere to be seen. Wait, where was she? How did he not notice the door open and her silently slip out of the closet?

Robbie was about to open his mouth when-

**BRRRRRING!**

"Here's the bell." Andre spoke up as he began to turn toward the door, only to notice that a certain red-haired someone wasn't there. "Hey, where'd Cat go?" He wondered aloud as he turned the doorknob and opened the door, stepping out into the crowded hallway.

Tori and Beck looked around before shrugging. "Beats me." Beck said simply as he followed Andre out of the closet, with Tori and Robbie close behind. Robbie was berating Rex out. "You didn't have to mention that Jade and I made out!" He hissed at his best friend, who turned his head toward him.

"What? I was only trying to help you out, man." Robbie rolled his eyes and shook his head. "That wasn't what I had in mind! I'm disappointed in you."

Rex chuckled. "You mean you're disappointed in yourself? Yeah, I am too." The dummy smarted off, which made Robbie clam up quickly. The dummy had a point there. Robbie was only berating himself, and he wondered why he blurted out, through Rex, his safety outlet, that he had made out with Jade yesterday. True, Jade didn't swear him into secrecy, or anything like this, but still...

Robbie snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a hand grab his elbow. It was Tori, whose light brown eyes were determined and full of questions. "We're not finished here, Robbie. We will talk about this over lunch." She whispered near his ear before flashing him a smile and letting go of his elbow, bidding him bye as she walked down the hallway with Andre in tow.

Robbie swallowed as he looked at Tori's departing figure, knowing well that she wanted to ask more about his make out with Jade, the subject that Robbie had so skillfully sidestepped in the closet.

What had he done now?

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><p>Rage.<p>

Anguish.

Dismay.

Envy.

Such emotions were coursing through Cat, to name a few, as she ran through the hallways, weaving around the students with such dexterity that she didn't know she had possessed, feeling tears pool at the corners of her eyes and dripping down her face - although she furiously wiped them away. That didn't stop the tears from coming once again, though.

Her crush, Robbie Shapiro not only kissed Jade West, but made out with her in a janitor's closet and generally confessed her love for her. If the sight of her Robbie smashing his lips against Jade's in Sikowitz's house had deeply stabbed her heart like sharp shards of glass with jagged edge, then the revelation about him making out with Jade in the janitor's closet and being in love with her completely and utterly _shattered_ her heart. She had hoped that Robbie's kiss with Jade was a mistake, that he had been, like, thinking of Cat when he had kissed Jade, or something like that. But alas, this wasn't the case.

Robbie was in love with Jade.

Why her? Why _Jade_? Why couldn't Robbie choose her, Cat, instead?

Feeling herself pace slow down to a walk, feeling her chest heave with both shortness of breath and with sobs that were convulsing through her, Cat found herself at the door to the Black Box Theater. Wiping her eyes, dimly aware that she probably looked terrible with her mascara running down her face, and ignoring the shrill sound of the bell that exacerbated through the hallway, Cat opened the door to the Black Box Theater and walked in, finding it to be deserted.

Perfect.

Heaving out a heavy sigh, Cat walked over to one of the folding chairs and sat down, wiping her eyes once again, as she thought about Robbie for what was probably the millionth time.

What was it about Robbie Shapiro that drew her to him? Cat then answered her own question as a wistful ghost of a smile appeared on her face. _Everything_.

Robbie was a truly _sweet_ guy, the sweetest guy she had ever met in her life. He had a big heart, one that he always wore on his sleeve. He was pretty funny, and always made her laugh, and he was great to hang out with, even though his puppet Rex (whom she knew was truly a puppet, and that whatever Rex said was actually Robbie saying them, which hurt her a bit when Robbie said some hurtful things to her through Rex) was..._unpleasant_ to be around at times. And call her crazy, and she probably was, but Cat thought Robbie looked hot. She remembered that when, after the Robarazzi fiasco, Jade put the video on in spite of her promise to Robbie, Cat had all but fainted when she saw Robbie in a towel in the video. She swore that she had..._purred_ like a cat. And even saved the video in a private location on her laptop for her viewing pleasure.

Cat sighed softly again, her eyes now largely dry.

Ever since she first met Robbie, she had thought of him as being cute and adorable, even developing a small puppy crush on him for a time. She remembered, however, being annoyed and even a bit jealous for some reason when Robbie had trailed after Trina like a lovesick puppy after she gave him a stage kiss in an audition, and so out of the kindness in her heart, Cat decided to give him a kiss on the lips to prove that a stage kiss was, well, a stage kiss. Nothing more or less.

However, that was to be prove to be the most fateful decision she had ever made. As soon as she pressed her lips onto his, she felt..._sparks_ emanate from his incredibly soft lips as a warm sensation jolted through her, making her stomach churn up and her heart to flutter up. While on the outside she pulled back from the kiss with a casual "See?" and went back to eating her food, in the inside, she felt..._blown away_, her heart beating wildly, her mind whirling around the 'stage kiss.'

From that moment, Cat began to see him in a completely new light, not as a 'puppy love' but a real crush. Every time she saw him, she steadily felt her heart flutter up; every time she heard his name, she felt herself smile and even blush a bit. She found herself thinking more and more about him as time passed by, and even spending more time with him, such as the time she went with him to his grandmother's place (although Robbie's grandma was certainly sweet to Robbie, she was downright rude and mean to her, and Cat couldn't help get offended and a bit hurt at this blatant lack of approval). Her concern about Robbie's family not approving any possible future relationship (Cat found herself blushing at this) were evaporated when she went to meet Robbie's parents. Robbie's mother, in contrast to the grandmother, greeted her warmly, even whispering to a flustered Robbie one time that she approved of her. The same went for when she introduced Robbie to her family, who to her embarrassment gushed about how an "adorable boy" he was, and kept on rambling on about random stuff, of which she participated in.

Cat, in particularly, remembered that when Robbie's grandma had asked if she was Robbie's girlfriend, she found that she didn't protest at such proposition, although she felt kinda stung when Robbie said she wasn't. She also remembered feeling irritated when Robbie's grandma kept on trying to set Robbie up with a bashful girl named Brenda.

Due to her growing feelings for Robbie as time wore on, Cat opted to act her 'ditzy' self. Despite what everyone probably thought about her - an overly-cheerful, hyperactive girl who got offended easily - Cat was actually a serious person who excelled in her academic studies, who was smarter, _far_ smarter, than everyone gave her credit for. But her 'ditzy' self was something of a self-defense mechanism - similiar to Rex for Robbie - that she had developed when she first attended Hollywood Arts as a way to cope with something that hurt her, like various rejections and humiliations she had endured in middle school; she even opted to dye her natural brown hair into her current magenta one. Looking at Robbie's nerdy appearance, and his tendency to be picked on by just everyone in Hollywood Arts, Cat could sympathize with Robbie; she had been picked on as a 'nerd' in her old school.

Fearing probable rejection by Robbie himself, and wanting to push down her growing feelings for him, and _perhaps_ to make Robbie jealous, Cat proceeded to flirt with various boys that crossed her way - even right in front of Robbie himself - something that further contributed to her 'ditzy' image, something that Cat knew but wasn't proud of. She remembered feeling really guilty when she found that she had left her friends, especially her Robbie, to wither in the 110-degree RV at Venice Beach for a few hours just because she bumped into some really 'cute guys' (which she actually thought were complete dunderheads, but anyways proceeded to fool around with them for fun). And that's not mentioning that she had immediately latched on to Jason, Sikowitz's handsome nephew, when he went to the Moxie on the day of the sleepover. She had been thankful that Robbie didn't see that, even though he has seen her flirt with various boys.

Cat found her face darkening a bit as she thought about Jade, her best friend who her crush happened to be smitten with. What was it about Jade that wrapped Robbie around her finger? Was it because of her beauty? Was it because her clothes? Was it because of her kisses? Truth be told, Jade wasn't that pretty anyways. She was too pale-oh who was she kidding? She couldn't, and shouldn't, be ripping into her best friend like that (and that's not mentioning that Jade could rip a new hole in her if she tried to confront her).

At that moment, a figurative light bulb ignited inside her head, and Cat found herself smiling a little.

Perhaps she could try to...catch his attention? Seize it and hold on to it, never letting it go, and try to lure him away from Jade?

Cat nodded to herself, the machinery in her mind whirring, as she gave herself a quick lookover.

Yes, she would do it. She would have to be subtle and cunning, but she would do it. Cat thought of that firmly to herself as she stood up from the chair she had been sitting in, and headed toward the door, aware that she was late for her class but not caring about it.

Robbie Shapiro was going to be hers.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, here it is. Chapter Seven. What do you think?**

**Oooh, there's gonna be some drama in the horizon, heh. Especially with Robbie, Jade, and Cat, lol. This ought to be..._interesting_. ;)**

**I think I did good. Hope you liked it, though.**

**As usual, show your love by reviewing! :3**


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